We Fought for This Land
by cxe128
Summary: Finn Hudson is happily married to his high school sweetheart, Quinn, but then he goes away in 1941 to fight for the United States against the Nazis. On his way home to Quinn, he liberates a pretty Jewish girl, Rachel, from the horrors the Nazis left behind and begins to fall for her. Starts Finn/Quinn, later Finn/Rachel, Puck/Quinn, and Puck/Rachel, other glee characters too.
1. Chapter 1: Going Away

We Fought for This Land

Summary: Finn Hudson is happily married to his high school sweetheart, Quinn, but then he goes away in 1941 to fight for the United States against the Axis Powers. On his way home to Quinn, he liberates a certain Jewish girl from the horrors the Nazis left behind, and begins to fall for her. Finn/Quinn, Finn/Rachel, Puck/Rachel, Puck/Quinn, other glee characters will appear too.

 **Author's Note: Hi! This is my first story, and I hope you will enjoy it! I am trying to be historically accurate, but let me know if you see any errors. I love Fuinn, but also Finchel, Puckleberry, and Quick, so those four will be my main characters, but many of the other Glee characters will appear as well. I really, really appreciate feedback on my writing so reviews would be great!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, though I wish I did.**

 _Prologue - December 1941, Lima, Ohio_

Finn woke up that morning feeling sad. He didn't understand why at first, but then he looked at the beautiful blonde woman sleeping peacefully beside him. _Quinn._ She was his childhood friend, his first girlfriend, his first kiss, and now his wife of three years. In seven months, she would be the mother of his firstborn as well. And now he was leaving her to fight for the same land his father had fought for twenty-three years ago.

Quinn stirred in his arms. God, she was even more beautiful than she was nine years ago when they first started dating in their freshman year of high school. They were the golden couple of McKinley High: he had been the quarterback and she was the head cheerleader. They had been so carefree back then, but now? Since the attack on Pearl Harbor and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's subsequent declaration of war, they carried the weight of the world on their shoulders.

Quinn rolled over and mournfully looked up at Finn. "Good morning, darling," he said. "I can't believe you're leaving today," she said, her voice breaking. "Me neither, Quinn. But you know how much it means to me to be able to walk in my father's footsteps," he said.

She nodded. Finn's father had died when he was a baby, fighting in battle in the Great War over some silly European dispute. Finn was so honorable and brave that he was determined to carry on his father's legacy.

Finn glanced at his watch, the device painfully taking away their time together, one tick at a time. "I guess we'd better get dressed now," he said. He pulled on his uniform as Quinn tugged a dress over her thin frame. She wished she could stay in his arms forever and never have to face the hours, days, months, possibly even _years_ that were to come.

—

The walk to the train station where the army enlistees would depart was short. There were plenty of other families there to see their sons, husbands, brothers, and fathers off, including the Puckerman family. Noah "Puck" Puckerman was Finn's longtime best friend and the infamous ladies' man of Lima. He, too, would be fighting to keep his family safe and free. Puck nodded and smiled thinly at Finn and Quinn but continued to converse with his mother, Deborah, and younger sister, Miriam.

Finn pulled Quinn into his arms. She always felt so safe there, as if nothing could harm her. Screw those Nazis and Japs for taking her prince away. Most likely, he wouldn't be home for their baby's birth.

The fateful train pulled into the station. "Oh, Finn!", Quinn wailed. "Listen, Q, I'll make it back home," he said, trying to make their parting easier for her. "I love you so much, and I love the little one we're going to have in seven months." Finn rested his hands lovingly on Quinn's small stomach, which would soon expand to fit and protect their child. Finn couldn't believe he was going to be a father, but the timing was so poor.

"Last call for the 8:00 am train to Chicago," the conductor called. Finn, Puck, and the others would be leaving for Chicago and would take a train to Georgia to train for a month there before shipping out to Europe.

Finn's mother, Carol, hugged her son goodbye and reminded him how proud she was of him. His stepfather, Burt Hummel shook his hand and told him he was a real man. His stepbrother, Kurt, hugged him too and helped him carry his belongings to the train.

Quinn leaned up and entwined her arms around Finn's neck. She kissed him sweetly and passionately, knowing full well this could be their last kiss, and despite what he said, he may never make it home to her and the baby again.

Puck came over to the couple, interrupting their intimate moment. "Hudson, we've gotta run. Goodbye, Quinn," he said, kissing her on the cheek. Puck had always harbored some feelings for Quinn and was sad that he wouldn't get to kiss her the way Finn just had. "Goodbye, Puck," Quinn said, returning his gesture and feeling the familiar chemistry she always had felt with him. "I'll write you."

Quinn clung to Finn desperately as he collected his things. He kissed her hair tenderly and cherished this moment with his love. "I love you, darling. If I could, I wouldn't do this, but I know it's the right thing for our country. To protect our child." Quinn nodded as tears flowed freely down her cheeks. For once, she didn't care if her parents' stiff friends thought she was being too emotional. She just wanted to imprint her final moment with her husband into her memory.

Finn and Puck boarded the train, looking back at their families and the girl they both loved. They wondered if they would ever see her again, and if they did, when.

Quinn continued to cry as Carol comforted her and walked her back to the now-empty house. Quinn went to the bed she and Finn shared and began to pray, fingering the silver cross necklace she always wore.

 _Dear Jesus,_

 _Please protect Finn from harm while he's fighting overseas. He's such a good man, and I know I don't deserve him. Also protect Puck, because I am still trying to sort out my feelings for him. Is that wrong, since I'm a married woman now? I'd also like to pray for all of their friends, including Matt Rutherford and Mike Chang, who are going into battle. And for everyone, including me and our child, who are here at home, that we be strong._

 _Amen._

Prayer was all she had left.


	2. Chapter 2: Deployed

We Fought for this Land Chapter 2

 **Hi guys! Thanks for reading** ** _We Fought for this Land!_** **Shoutout to Biib's for following this story! This chapter is relatively short compared to the first chapter, but I promise the next one will be much longer. This chapter is mostly from Finn's POV but also Puck's. I hope you enjoy it!**

 _Fort Benning, Georgia - January 1942_

Dear Finn,

How are you? I hope training is going well for you and that they're treating you well there.

I spent a lovely Christmas at home with your mother, stepfather, Kurt, and my parents. Although they were wonderful company, they failed to distract me from the fact that you were gone. I miss you, Finn. It's only been what - four weeks? - but it feels like an eternity already. Hopefully, the Nazis and Japs will capitulate soon so you can come home to me.

The baby is doing well. The bump still isn't noticeable, and I haven't told anyone about him/her yet.

Love,

Your Quinn

—

"What does 'capitulate' mean?", Finn asked, confused. He didn't understand how Quinn knew what all of these big words meant.

"I think it means 'to surrender'," Mike Chang, an old friend of Finn and Puck, responded from his bunk bed above Finn's.

Puck noticed the slip of paper in Finn's hands. He must have gotten a letter from Quinn. Puck felt a twinge of jealousy, wishing he had gotten one from Quinn as well. Quinn had written him once - a short, cheery letter two weeks ago - but not like the touching, personal ones she wrote to Finn. _She probably spent hours thinking of Finn and none thinking of me_ , Puck thought bitterly.

"Attention!", a brisk voice sounded, breaking Puck out of his train of jealous thoughts.

Finn put down Quinn's letter and swiftly got to his feet as his commanding officer, Captain Will Schuester, walked in. Finn, Puck, and Mike hastily saluted Schuester. They'd learned to salute their superior officers early in their time at Fort Benning in order to avoid discipline such as cleaning the toilets or helping out in the kitchen. Captain Schuester held up his hand for silence. "Men, I just received word that you will be shipping out tomorrow."

The entire barracks went completely silent. This was it. Playtime was over. Training had been difficult, but Finn knew it would be nothing compared to the deadly Nazis and their allies. It was time to truly test his abilities and to see if he was a real man and a hero, like his father - or not.

—

No one in the barracks could sleep that night. They were all apprehensive thinking of the dangers they were to face and worried that they would never see their loved ones again. The night seemed to drag on forever, but the dreaded dawn finally came.

Finn, Puck, Mike, and their friend Matt Rutherford boarded a ship bound for England, where they would go to acclimate to the area and to undergo further training. After their intense training process, they would be deployed to areas occupied by the Nazis and would finally face their foes in battle.

None of the four friends spoke more than a few words to each other, but Finn could tell how his buddies were feeling. He could see past Puck's display of bravado and knew it was just an act in order to look tough in front of the others.

A soldier stood with a clipboard to check each man in. "Name?", he barked to Finn. "Corporal Finn Hudson, sir," Finn replied, saluting the man in response. _Corporal._ He wondered what his dad would think if he could see him now. "I'll make you proud, Dad," he promised as the vessel set sail across the Atlantic into the unknown.

—

 _My dearest, Quinn,_

 _I wanted to write this letter to you to let you know that my unit, under Captain Will Schuester, is being deployed today. We are sailing across the Atlantic, Quinnie. I always wanted to go to Europe, but not under circumstances like these. I won't be in touch with you for a week or so, until we reach England, where we will train more before heading to enemy territory. How are things at home? Darling, please show Mom and Burt this letter. I hope to be home soon._

 _Love,_

 _Finn_

 _P.S. Mike is helping me spell and write this, you know I can't spell real good._

 **Hope you liked it! Please review - I love any and all feedback.**


	3. Chapter 3: Mama, Don't Leave Me

We Fought for this Land - Chapter 3

 **Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry I was so late to update WFFTL because I was so busy with exercising (yes, I'm trying to get in shape!) and schoolwork. There was also an issue with publishing ch3 the first time. Thanks for all of the following, favoriting, and reviewing you all have done! I am trying to get to five reviews (at least) and right now I have two or three. I can't update until I have five! So please, please review. This chapter is mainly from Rachel's perspective and deals with the Holocaust a little. It is not graphic, however. Enjoy!**

—

 _February, 1942 - Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia_

Rachel Berrich missed her life in Prague. Who could have imagined that in a matter of three years her life would change so drastically? Three years ago, she was a spoiled, annoying, and naive schoolgirl of fourteen whose only worries were what part she would get in the school musical and which boys were interested in her. Those damn Nazis had taken away her naivety and her carefree life when Adolf Hitler came to power and invaded Czechoslovakia. Now, she was just annoying yet talented and her main worries were when she would get her meager rations next and if she would succumb to one of the fatal diseases spreading in the Theresienstadt ghetto, known in Czech as Terezin.

Conditions were awful in the ghetto. Rachel felt as if she was living a nightmare. Scarcely a day went by when the Nazis didn't brutally attack some poor Jew over a trivial mistake they made. Rachel had been separated from her parents and was sent to live with some other girls around her age in a crowded communal housing unit.

And that wasn't all. Recently, the horrors had gotten even worse. The Nazis had started selecting some Jews in the ghetto for deportation to the east, or "resettlement" as they liked to call it. _Resettled, my ass,_ Rachel thought. She knew some girls who had been resettled along with their families, and no one had seen or heard from them since. The ghetto gossip was that those sent away weren't just being resettled at a labor camp - instead they were being brutally murdered by the Nazis. Some people chose to believe what the Nazis told them in order to have a peaceful state of mind when it was their turn to be deported.

"Rachel!", a familiar voice called, jolting Rachel out of her reverie. Rachel turned to face the speaker. It was her longtime friend, Tina Cohen, the daughter of a wealthy Jewish banker and an Asian opera singer. Tina's family had been quite the scandal in Prague since her mother had come to Prague from Asia to tour with an opera company and had died there after giving birth to the love child of a respected Jewish citizen. Just before she died, Tina's mother had located the man who got her pregnant and told him he had to raise his child, and he agreed, not wanting to lose his status as an upright man. The Nazis hated Tina even more than they hated the rest because she came from two minority groups, unlike Rachel, who came from just one.

"Tina!", Rachel called, excited to see her friend. "Is something the matter?", she said, seeing the look on Tina's face. "It-It's your mama," Tina said, and Rachel's heart plummeted. Tina continued speaking nervously. "Th-The Nazis…th-they…sh-she angered them because she dared to look one of them in the eye."

"Is she okay?", Rachel managed to get out, but she feared she already knew the answer. "N-no,"Tina said sadly. "One of them shot her in the chest with his gun, and threatened to 'kill the rich Jewish bitch.'"

"And?", Rachel pressed, needing to know more. "She's alive, right?" Tina nodded. "Barely. Come with me! Shelby asked me to find you for her!" Rachel and Tina sprinted down to the center square of Terezin. Rachel muttered a quick prayer in Yiddish as she spotted Shelby, looking pale and bloody.

"Rachel," Shelby croaked, speaking with great difficulty. "Mama! Who did this to you, which bastard did it?", Rachel asked. "Karofksy," Shelby rasped. _Karofsky._ He was the most hated and feared Nazi at Theresienstadt, mainly on account of his reputation as one of the most sadistic and cruel Nazis that even rivaled Hitler in both. Fury cut through Rachel like a white-hot knife. _You sick bastard, how could you murder an innocent mother because she had the audacity to look you in the eye!,_ Rachel thought angrily.

"Rachel, promise me one thing, _meyn takhter,"_ Shelby said. "Anything, Mama!", Rachel said, crying. "That's the last time you will cry in front of them. You can't let them have the satisfaction of knowing how they make you feel." Rachel nodded. "I love you, Mama," she said, kissing Shelby's forehead. Shelby closed her eyes and stopped breathing. Rachel almost cried and screamed but then remembered her vow to Shelby: don't let them see how they make you feel. Instead, Rachel sang a Yiddish lullaby:

" _Durme, durme ijiko de madre_

 _Durme, durme sin ansia i dolor_

 _Durme, durme sin ansia i dolor."_

" _Sleep, sleep; mother's little boy_

 _Free from worry and from pain,_

 _Free from worry and from pain."_

Rachel hadn't sung in a while, and it felt good to express her feelings like that. "Y-You have a beautiful voice," Tina said. "I know," Rachel snapped. "It is the best in Prague. I don't understand why Pan Bruzek never gave me any solos in choir." Even after ten years of being friends with Rachel, Tina was still unaccustomed to Rachel's arrogant bragging and sense of entitlement, but she decided to be a good friend and instead thoughtfully responded, "Whatever we want, whatever we have, they take away from us."

—

 **A/N: I hope you liked it! Sorry if it was a bit dark, but I wanted to deal seriously with the subject matter at hand. The next chapter will revolve mainly around Quinn's life on the home front. Please read and review! I love any and all feedback!**

 **-cxe128**


	4. Chapter 4: We Can Do It!

Chapter 4

 **Author's Note: Hi guys! I am so sorry! I was ridiculously busy and forgot to log into my account for a couple of weeks. Thanks for all of the amazing reviews! I love feedback, and you guys were all so sweet. I promise to update sooner next time, but I won't update until I get at least 10 reviews total, and right now I have 6 revies. Santana is in this chapter a lot, as well as Quinn. **

_March 1942 - Lima, Ohio_

 _Dear Quinn,_

 _I hope you're doing okay. And our child, is he/she doing well? Has he/she kicked yet?_

 _I am now in England for specialized training in England to learn more about how to deal with the European terrain and its geography. Now I wish I had paid more attention to that kind of stuff in school! We won't be in actual combat for a while, so you have nothing to worry about._

 _Puck asked me to ask you if you can write to him. He says he'd really like someone besides his mother and Miriam to write to him. Would you please do it, Quinnie? Nothing too personal (c'mon, it's Puck!) but just some nice things. He took his breakup with Santana really hard._

 _I think about you all the time here. Every time I see a nurse with golden-blonde hair, I see you. I miss every part of you: your beautiful hair, your hypnotizing hazel eyes, your smile, and more things that your parents wouldn't approve of me writing down. I miss you, darling, and I can't wait to reunite with you._

 _Love, Finn_

—

Quinn smiled as she finished reading Finn's latest letter. Finn made the insecurities she'd always had about herself go away. She always felt so relieved when another letter from him arrived, even though she knew it was highly unlikely he would be injured in training.

Quinn didn't know what to think about his suggestion that she start writing to Puck. It was sweet of Finn to look after his best friend, but she didn't know if she could trust _herself_ with the task. She and Puck would both be lying if they denied that there were some unresolved romantic feelings there. Quinn knew she was selfish and manipulative by nature, and those qualities she despised about herself could lead her to cheat on Finn via letter communication with Puck. But still, Puck looked so handsome in his uniform in the picture Finn had sent of them. She sometimes daydreamed about his amazing muscles…

 _Snap out of it, Fabray!_ , Quinn chided herself sharply. She was a married woman now, married to the man she knew she loved, and expecting his baby on top of that. But she couldn't let Finn down, so it was settled: she would write short, amiable letters to Puck. Nothing more.

The doorbell suddenly rang, and Quinn jumped up to answer it, startled. Her old friend, Santana Lopez, was standing there, clutching a newspaper and looking irritated that Quinn hadn't answered the door sooner. "Finally," the Latina said as a way of greeting. "I thought you were gonna let me freeze my skinny butt off out here." Quinn laughed at her friend's frank way of expressing her opinion. "Good to see you too, Santana!", she said.

Santana walked into the neat, pretty house the Hudsons owned and sat down in their living room. "Have you heard any news from Finn lately?", she asked casually. Quinn knew the real reason Santana was asking was to find out information about Puck. Even though she broke up with him right before he went to war - she didn't want to be tied down to someone who would be gone for years - Quinn knew Santana still cared for him in her own way. "Actually, I was just reading a letter from him," Quinn said as she made a cup of tea for her guest. "He and the rest of the army boys from Lima are training in England. They haven't seen real action yet." Santana breathed a sigh of relief.

"So what was the real reason you came here, San?" Quinn asked the Latina. "I know you didn't come just to ask for news about _my_ husband." Santana held up the newspaper she had brought. "I read in this that several factories are hiring women." " _What?!"_ Quinn exclaimed. "But men think we're weak and our job is to work in the home, _not_ the factory. At least that's what my father told me." Santana shrugged. "Your father is a pigheaded ass. Anyway, the war needs us to manufacture munitions for them."

Quinn looked at the advertisement in the newspaper. _"We Can Do It!",_ it said, with a fierce-looking woman clad in denim and a bandanna flexing her arm underneath.

Quinn shook her head. "I can't. My father would never want to have anything to do with me again if I took this job. And anyway, I'm six months pregnant!", she exclaimed, resting her hand on her round stomach as she felt the baby kick again. "No one would want to hire me…at least not for three or four more months!"

Santana shrugged. "I didn't mean you should join now, Quinn," she said. "I think you should consider volunteering for work with me after the baby is born, though." Quinn nodded. She definitely wanted to do something to help the war effort, particularly since Finn was a part of it. And the Fabrays? Sure, they were close-minded, old-fashioned people, but they had instilled in Quinn a sense of patriotism and love for the amazing country she lived in. But Quinn didn't want to have to face her parents' disapproval when she broke the news that she would be working in a factory to them yet. They already constantly nagged her about how her older sister, Frannie, was a better daughter, wife, and Christian woman. She would worry about that after the baby was born… In the meantime, maybe she would take up a light job such as sewing army uniforms - _yes, that was a good idea!,_ Quinn thought.

"Speaking of the baby," Santana said, "have you and Finn given any thought to what you want to name the baby?" "If it's a boy, Finn wants to name him after his father, Christopher," Quinn responded. Santana nodded approvingly. "What if it's a girl," she asked. Quinn was more hesitant to respond. "Well, get this: Finn wants to name her Drizzle." " _Drizzle?",_ Santana snorted. "What kind of a ridiculous name is that? Every time it drizzles, someone like me will mock that kid mercilessly." Quinn shook her head, laughing. "I honestly don't even know. All I know is I want to name her something more normal, such as Margaret or Elizabeth and call her Peggy or Beth."

"That's pretty," Santana said. "Much better than _Drizzle,"_ she mocked, and the two women doubled over in laughter again.

Quinn and Santana conversed for a while longer about everything from high school to new dresses to war-rationed items such as sugar. It felt so natural for Quinn to speak with her old friend, and she realized how lonely it was for her without Finn. She ate supper with Carole Burt, and Kurt - who had somehow managed to avoid being drafted in the army - sometimes, but it wasn't the same as having a husband to talk about their days with each other over dinner, the way she and Finn always did.

 _I'm so selfish,_ Quinn realized. _I'm safe at home, talking to my best friend and I complain about being lonely here. Who knows what Finn will have to face overseas?_ Quinn had always known she could be very selfish and singleminded sometimes, but this was really bad, even for her.

Suddenly, Quinn started crying just as Santana told a joke about their naive friend, Brittany . She knew her hormones were just acting up because of the baby, but still - this was unusual. Santana looked at Quinn funny. "You doin' all right, Q?", she asked, hoping her friend was okay. "I-I miss Finn," Quinn said, even though she knew there was more to it than that. "I just want him to come home, to be there when the baby comes."

Santana rushed to the pregnant blonde's side. She put her arms around Quinn, displaying an unusual compassionate side to her that she only ever showed to those she cared most about - Puck, Quinn, Brittany, Finn, her parents, her _abuela._ "Oh, Q," she said. "It'll be okay. He'll come home by the time _Drizzle_ is born."

Santana had said what each girl wanted to believe. But really, neither one of them knew what would happen to the men they loved most. Both girls suspected their beaus, husbands, brothers, and friends would not come home for a while…unless it was in a box. And neither Quinn nor Santana wanted to face that last possibility.

 _My dearest husband, Finn,_

 _How are you? How is training going? I am fine, just thinking of you a lot. I miss having you sleep in the bed with me. Now it feels empty and cold rather than cozy and warm, like it felt when you were there with me._

 _The baby has kicked many times! He/She is very powerful, and I am sure that the Nazis would be annihilated in no time if he/she was in the army! I wish you could've been there when the baby kicked, but you were there in my heart, and I'm sure our little one knows that._

 _I love you so much, Finn. You are my hero, no matter what._

 _All my love,_

 _Quinn_

 _Dear Puck,_

 _I hope everything is going well for you. I'm not going to lie, Finn asked me to write this to you. You might ask me why I am suddenly writing this to you. Am I doing this because he asked me? Yes, 99 percent of the reason I am writing to_ you _of all people a letter is because of that. And the other 1 percent of my reason for writing to you? Because I genuinely care about you._

 _I'm going to put the teasing aside for a moment. How is England? I've always wanted to go there. Have you met the king and his daughters? Have you found any unsuspecting British girls to sleep with? Actually, I don't want to know the answer to that last one, but knowing you, I am sure you have._

 _Lima is boring as usual. After my baby is born, I am thinking of working at a factory with Santana to produce weapons. What do you think of that? I am afraid of what my parents, especially Daddy, will say._

 _Your mother and Miriam are fine. Your mother hopes you are attending Jewish temple services in England regularly._

 _All my love_

 _Your friend,_

 _Quinn_

 **Author's Note: Hope you guys liked it! Here is an intro to Pucktana (I don't know if it will be one of the main ships though), Quick is being introduced here more, and Fuinn is here a bit too. I tried to play Quinn's conflicting feelings about herself, Puck and Finn, and working for the war in character, but I don't know if I did it well. I also love Santana...she is one of my favs! The next chapter will be about Puck and FInn at war. Please follow, favorite, and REVIEW!**

 **-cxe128**


	5. Chapter 5: Life's a Miracle

**Hi guys! Here is the 5th chapter of We Fought for this Land! Hopefully, you won't be disappointed that it is another Quinn chapter, but this will be the last for a couple and the time jumps will skip a LOT further ahead so we can get to the climax of the story. Thanks so much for all of the kind reviews! I am hoping to get to at least 18 total after this chapter. Please follow/favorite this story and REVIEW!**

 _July 1942 - Lima, Ohio_

Ohio was swelteringly hot and humid that summer. Quinn was knitting wool socks for Finn, Puck, and some of the other soldiers and discussing cake recipes with Carole on the Hummels' porch. The two women were sipping iced tea in an effort to stay cool, but even that wasn't working. This added to the fact that Quinn was nine months pregnant and her baby bump was very large and still growing made for a very uncomfortable summer for her.

"My recipe for lemon cake is very simple, dear," Carole was saying. "My secret is that I serve it with raspberry sauce…It really brings out the taste. Of course that's harder to make now that sugar and butter are being rationed for the war effort, but we all have to make sacrifices for Finn and the boys, right?"

Quinn had checked out of what Carole was saying a few moments ago. She loved Carole and wanted to talk to her, but she was having trouble concentrating on their conversation due to the intense stomach pains she was feeling. They felt very similar to the cramps she got monthly when she had her period. _But that is impossible!,_ Quinn thought. _I'm pregnant, I haven't had my period for nine months!_

One of the pains was so intense that Quinn let out a small shriek, crying out in pain. Carole stopped what she was saying and looked worriedly on her beloved daughter-in-law, noticing the pained expression on Quinn's face. "Are you doing alright, Quinn?", she asked.

Quinn nodded. "Everything's fine. I'm having cramps, like the ones I have when I have my period," she explained. Carole gasped. "Quinn, that definitely isn't nothing!" she said. Her many years of experience in the nursing profession had taught her to recognize signs of women going into labor. "You're in labor, dear. You'll likely pop out that baby tonight!"

Quinn gasped in astonishment and fear. It was real! For nine months, she had convinced herself Finn would be there to hold her hand while she gave birth to their baby. But now, it was obvious he wouldn't be there to do so. Quinn felt sad about that, but knew she would just have to be strong.

Carole dashed inside and made a quick phone call to Burt at his tire shop. "Burt Hummel, you come home this instant!" she ordered. "Quinn's having your grandchild!" Burt hastily agreed and made his way home with Kurt as fast as possible. He scooped up the pregnant girl with the enormous baby bump as if she weighed nothing at all and walked with Carole and Kurt to Lima Memorial Hospital.

The doctors escorted Quinn and Carole into a delivery room and she immediately went into labor.

—

As the labor reached the final stage, Quinn became even more nervous and scared. Her older sister, Frannie, had told her that childbirth was even more painful than having sex for the first time, and Quinn's first time sleeping with Finn had been as painful as it was amazing. Frannie was right - this was more painful than her first time, or breaking her arm when she was nine, or falling from the top of the cheerleading pyramid, or her father hitting her with his belt like he did when he was drunk.

So many women still died in childbirth a year! Even strong, healthy girls like Quinn could die in childbirth because the available medicines weren't very reliable. The baby, from what she could tell, was very big and she was a petite girl.

"Push, Quinn!", Carole ordered. "I CAN'T DO THIS!", Quinn screamed. "I HATE FINN FOR LEAVING ME AND GETTING ME PREGNANT!" "You have to, Quinn!" Carole said. "You don't hate Finn, you love him! Just think, the baby will come out this time, and it will be beautiful! With your hair and eyes and Finn's smile! Imagine how he will feel when he meets it!", Kurt exclaimed. Kurt's encouragement pushed Quinn to make one more push, and with that final one, the baby came out.

The baby was a beautiful girl with Quinn's silky blonde hair and clear hazel eyes and Finn's sweet, goofy smile. She was big, weighing eight and a half pounds, and had wailed when she popped out of Quinn's now-small belly. _Finn and I made that!_ , Quinn thought, tears coming to her eyes. _We really created this beautiful baby girl!_ "Hi!", she whispered as she softly rocked her daughter. "I love you so much, and so does your daddy." The tiny girl curled her fingers around a lock of her mother's hair, and Quinn kissed the top of her daughter's fuzzy head.

Carole noticed Quinn's tears. "Life is really a miracle, isn't it?", she remarked, and Quinn nodded. She couldn't agree more. Her only wish was for Finn to be with her and experience this amazing joy with her.

"What would you like to name your daughter, Mrs. Hudson?", the doctor asked, holding up a pen and a birth certificate.

Quinn smiled. She had thought about what her baby's name would be every night before she fell asleep and thought she had found the perfect one. "Elizabeth," she said softly. "Elizabeth Drizzle Hudson."

 _Dear Finn,_

 _I am writing this on the behalf of Quinn, who is too weak right now to write to you. She gave birth to your daughter today, a healthy, beautiful girl! She has decided to name her Elizabeth Drizzle Hudson, called Beth for short. I don't understand her choice for Beth's middle name (isn't Drizzle kind of weird?) but I'm sure you two discussed this. How are you? I am so happy you are safe from battle at the moment! I am so, so proud of you!_

 _Love,_

 _Mom_

 _P.S. Quinn sends her love too._

 **Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this! Another chapter will be posted in the next few weeks, probably about Rachel. I can write from the girls' POVs much better than the guys' since I am a girl. Please follow, favorite, and review!**

 **-cxe128**


	6. Chapter 6: Not a Child Anymore

**Author's Note: Hi guys! Here it is - the sixth chapter! This chapter is from Rachel's POV. I think it is very good, as it shows Rachel beginning a romance with a boy! Oh, I wanted to clarify that Rachel is eighteen as of this point in the story. I realized I made a mistake in the third chapter and I fixed that. Enjoy!**

 _February 1943 - Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia_

 _A year was a very long time,_ Rachel decided. It had been an entire year since Shelby's death, one long, torturous, anguished year for Rachel. A year spent in fear of the constant threat of deportation to one of the "resettlement" camps. A year full of rations that became more and more meager as time went on. A year full of increasing hatred that Rachel locked inside herself against the Nazis, especially against David Karofsky, the guard who had killed Shelby. _If I ever survive this,_ Rachel thought, _I will get revenge on Karofsky, but not just on him - on all of these bastards._

In that year, Rachel had changed so much. She had learned to be the woman of the "house" - if you could call the Berrich's sparse separate living arrangements a house. She had grown more bitter yet had matured. She had become closer to her father, Hiram, but she'd always clicked more with him than with Shelby. Rachel didn't know what she'd do if Hiram died too. She barely sang anymore because it reminded her too painfully of Shelby, who had taught her how to sing.

One of the only things that kept Rachel going in this miserable time besides Hiram and the idea of revenge on the Nazis was her two amazing best friends. Besides Tina, she was friends with Artie Abrams, a crippled young man whom everyone labeled as weak and destined to die on the hands of the Nazis. Tina and Artie were great. They always were shoulders for her to lean on and always knew what she was feeling, even if she didn't express it (she mostly did express her feeling, since she was a very dramatic and emotional girl). Tina would make her watery coffee, which looked and tasted like mud but was better than nothing. Artie would play her some music with his guitar, his most treasured possession.

Currently, Rachel was working in Terezin's garden, which was her main job in the ghetto. She planted seed after seed that she hoped would blossom in the spring into salvageable food for the Jews to eat. Everyone knew the best food went to the German commandant of Terezin, but maybe Rachel could smuggle a few scraps into her apron…Unless the foreman randomly noticed and shot her on the spot. That wouldn't be good. She knew Hiram would lose the will to live if she too died, so she had to keep out of trouble, if only for him.

The foreman rang the bell that signaled the end of the workday. Rachel hurried to find Tina so they could attend the mixer for young people. Tina had forced her to accompany her to the mixer. "It would be good for you, Rach," she'd said. "Maybe you'll meet someone…!" "I don't engage in frivolous activities like philandering with the opposite sex," Rachel had said, but had then smiled at Tina to let her know she'd come with her.

It had been a while since Rachel had thought about boys! She was pretty sure most of her schoolgirl crushes turned out to be homosexual (a very dangerous thing to be these days) since they were flamboyant and interested in theater and one she'd made out with had asked her what boys' lips tasted like. _Eww!,_ Rachel had thought, _that is_ exactly _the wrong thing to say to a girl when you're kissing her!_ Needless to say, she had stormed out on that boy after telling him off for disrespecting her like that and being ungentlemanly.

Rachel and Tina walked gaily to the grassy area in the center of the ghetto. The two looked for cute boys, and their worries completely disappeared for the first time in ten years. Artie found Tina and asked her to dance with him. Tina looked back at Rachel, making sure she wouldn't feel left out, but Rachel motioned that it was okay. "I'm happy for you, Tina!", she yelled over the chaos. She had always thought Artie and Tina would be an adorable couple.

Rachel stood awkwardly by herself until she saw one boy walk over to her. A boy with the most beautiful blue eyes she'd ever seen. He was tall and handsome, with wavy caramel-brown hair and a smile almost as huge as hers, which was saying a lot. She wondered if his smile, like her own, had become a mask to hide all of his pain under. In this place, it was better to keep your pain under the surface.

The boy had approached her now. "I'm Jesse," he said, sticking out his hand. "Like the Jesse tree?", Rachel asked, and then chided herself in her head for saying something really dumb like that. She had never been good at flirting. To her surprise, Jesse threw back his head and laughed. He had a nice laugh, a carefree one. "What's your name, pretty girl?", he asked, obviously flirting with her.

Rachel had never been called pretty before! Annoying, arrogant, talented, yes, but never pretty! She really liked this Jesse boy. "Rachel. Rachel Barbra Berrich," she said importantly. "Wow, so official," Jesse joked. Rachel giggled, which was almost a foreign sound to her now. She had forgotten how good it sounded, how good it felt to laugh! "Are you from Prague?", she asked. "Yes," he answered. "I was born in Bratislava, though."

The two young people began discussing their lives in Prague. Jesse was the son of a wealthy Jewish banker. They had only lived a few streets away from the Berrichs, and Rachel was surprised she'd never noticed someone as cute as him before. They discussed everything from their old friends to their families to school to the sweet chimney cake they'd eaten every year at the Christmas markets.

The leaders of the mixer announced that it was coming to an end. Suddenly, Jesse pulled Rachel close…and kissed her.

Rachel surprised herself by kissing him back. He smelled surprisingly good; everyone else in the ghetto smelled filthy except maybe the leader of the Jewish council. Jesse pulled away. "Damn, Rachel," he said. "You're a really good kisser." Rachel blushed and bid him good night. "I hope I'll see you again!", she called. "Likewise," he said and winked at her.

For the first time since arriving in the ghetto, Rachel went to bed happy that night and excited for the next day. But could her happiness bloom like a flower in a place as awful as Terezin, or would it be killed by the Nazis just as a flower was killed by weeds?

 **A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Unfortunately, I did not get the number of reviews I wanted for the last chapter, but I decided to post this anyway. Can you guys PLEASE give me 20 reviews for this chapter? Please follow, fav, and review!**


	7. Chapter 7: Seen and Heard

**Chapter 7: Seen and Heard**

 **Author's Note: Hi guys! Thanks for bearing with me so far! I appreciate the feedback and followers I have gotten. This chapter is a Quinn chapter, and it is one where I am really proud of her. She has come so far (at least in my story) from the conceited teenager that she was in high school. So even if you don't like Quinn and are here for Finchel, please read this because I think you will both pity and admire her in this chapter. There is some Quick and mentions of Fuinn also.**

 **Next chapter: Rachel's or Finn's and Puck's. If it is Rachel's, it will depict one of the most life-changing events in her life. If it is Finn's and Puck's it will be them (finally) embarking on a military campaign. Unfortunately, the Americans weren't really involved in WW2 in Europe until 1944.**

 **Thanks and please REVIEW!**

 _August 1943 - Lima, Ohio_

 _Dear Quinn,_

 _I can't believe Drizzle is one year old now! I can't wait to meet her! The picture you sent me of her in your last letter was adorable. She is going to be beautiful, just like you._

 _How are you both? Things are good over here. We might actually see some battle, finally! They are talking about having us fight in Italy in the next few weeks, so we are busy training for that so we know what to expect. The food sucks here. I really miss your cooking._

 _I love you!_

 _Love,_

 _Finn_

 _—_

 _Dear Quinn,_

 _I really apreciate all of the letters you have been writing to me. They are_ _so_ _much better than the letters my mom writes me, criticizing me for not eating kosher over here (it's too hard, and the food is literally the worst ever) or not going to temple or not settling down with a nice Jewish girl. The girls here are so hot though. The nursing uniform adds a lot to their hotness in my opinion. Now I'm picturing you in a nursing uniform, especially a really short one…that would be the hottest thing ever._

 _I bet Lima is still a crappy cow town, so I won't ask how the people there are._

 _Except you. You were always different from them. How are you? No doubt you're still the most beautiful, smartest woman I've met, even though you've had a baby now. I'm surprised that you haven't gotten the hell out of there and gotten yourself an education, but I guess women aren't supposed to do that. Your daddy probably would disown you._

 _Wow, I sound like Kurt now, all sentimental. I gotta go._

 _Love, Puck_

 _—_

Quinn smiled as she set both letters down on the kitchen table beside the bills. She was so glad that Finn had told her to write Puck. His letters managed to sound just like him; when she read them it was almost as if he was standing there, talking to her. He was _such_ a pervert but still managed to sound sweet. Quinn wondered if she was the only one he was like that with. Probably not, though. _He has probably whispered things like what he writes to me into the ears of all of the exotic European girls he's sweet-talked into his bed_ , Quinn thought sadly.

"C'mon, Beth," Quinn said, scooping up her young daughter from her high chair and walking upstairs. "We've got to get you dressed to visit your grandparents."

Beth began to cry as Quinn dressed her in a pale blue and white sailor dress with anchors on the empire waist. "I know, baby girl. Trust me, I don't want to see them either," Quinn sighed. She really was not looking forward to eating dinner with her parents. She knew what she was going to tell them would not go over well. Puck was right - her father would disown her for doing something as revolutionary and modern as she was about to do.

Quinn offered Beth a bottle of milk as she quickly got dressed in a beautiful dark green dress with puffed sleeves, a v-neck, and buttons that went from the empire waist to the start of the flowing skirt. Her blonde hair was swept up into a simple yet elegant bun. She knew she would literally have to dress to impress, so she wanted to look fashionable and pretty while still looking classy and modest. _If only Puck could see me now,_ she thought. _That would totally make him think I was hot!_

There was a knock on the door, and a frazzled Quinn answered it. It was Santana. "Hey, Q," she said. "You're telling your parents about the factory job tonight, right?" "Yes," Quinn answered. "I'm so nervous!"

"I brought something to take care of your nerves," Santana said, and she held up a bottle of whiskey. Quinn laughed. "You're such a bad influence!" "That's what I live to be, Quinn!" "I can't, San. They will despise me even more if I'm drunk." "Hypocrites," Santana said and poured a full glass for each of them. "Everyone in Lima knows your dad drinks a lot and your mother's no lightweight either."

Yes, Quinn knew that her parents both drank a lot, especially her father, even though he tried to keep up his image as the perfect Christian man. She had so many bad memories of that…

—

 _Quinn was fourteen years old in 1933. Judy was away helping one of Quinn's cousins with her newborn child. Russell had had a bad day at work due to the Great Depression and had gone out to the local bar, The Duck's Feathers, with his buddies. Quinn had just come home from going out with Finn, who was her new boyfriend at the time, and Santana and Puck to the movies. She was especially happy because Finn had kissed her for the second time that night after the movie. She had crushed on Finn for forever, so kissing him was a dream come true. And he was also a really, really good kisser! She had not wanted to stop kissing him, but her morals had made up her mind for her. Finn was so sweet - he'd held her hand throughout the scarier parts of the movie._

 _Quinn knew her parents probably wouldn't be happy if they knew about her kissing a boy - even a sweet, innocent one like Finn- but it wasn't the 1910s anymore. Of course, Frannie probably hadn't kissed a boy until her wedding night, but Frannie was a perfect angel. Quinn was definitely not, even though she prayed to Jesus every night that she would become an angel someday._

 _Quinn went to go brush her teeth and got up to go to the sink. She had made it as far as the hall outside her room when Russell confronted her. Quinn jumped back and tried to run back to her bedroom before he noticed her, since he was always meaner when he drank. "Hello, Lucy," he said, knowing full well that Quinn hated it when he called her by her real first name. "Hello, Daddy," Quinn replied uneasily."You were out with the Hudson boy tonight, weren't you?" Quinn nodded tentatively, wondering what her father was getting at. A nonverbal answer would be safer than a verbal one._

 _"_ _What did you do, Lucy?" Quinn didn't even know if she should answer this question, because something in his voice told her that he already knew what she did. "I…saw a movie, Daddy," she whispered. Russell waved his hand away. "I already knew that, Lucy. I mean what did you do physically with the Hudson boy?" Quinn swallowed. "Nothing much." "Lucy Quinn, that's not what I heard from Mrs. Peabody."_

 _Quinn groaned. Mrs. Peabody was their nosy, holier-than-thou neighbor who also attended the Holy Trinity Episcopalian Church of Lima with them. She had probably seen Quinn with Finn, Puck, and Santana at the restaurant they attended after the movie. Quinn had gone outside in the restaurant's garden with Finn and the two had made out. Mrs. Peabody loved Frannie but always tried to get Quinn into trouble since she hated her for whatever reason._

 _"_ _Do you know what she said, Lucy?", Russell asked. Quinn shook her head. "The good lady said that you and the Hudson boy were practically sleeping together in public!", Russell spat. "What do you have to say to that?" Quinn gasped; what Mrs. Peabody had said was so far from the truth. "Th-that's not true, Daddy," Quinn stuttered. "Are you daring to say that a good Christian woman - which you are definitely not - is lying, and are you daring to deny your flagrant sexual act? I think you need to be taught a lesson on the morals we raised you with, Lucy!", Russell roared, whipping his belt over his head._

 _Quinn shrank back as he struck her in the side with the thick belt. She whimpered in pain and cried, "No, Daddy, please!" "Slut!" Russell cried as he hit Quinn extremely hard on her back with the belt. She knew her dad was a very strong man, but she didn't know he could injure another person like this - wasn't violence against their faith? But she must have done something wrong since Russell was a good man. "Whore!", he yelled, hitting Quinn harder with each blow. "Say you're a slut, Lucy, or I'll continue this!"_

 _"_ _I-I'm a slut," Quinn whispered almost imperceptibly. "Louder!", Russell said as he cracked the belt down again. Quinn had no choice but to give in. Judy was away, Frannie lived two towns over, the neighbors were either asleep or ignoring the spectacle. Some Christians they were. "I'm a slut, Daddy," Quinn said loudly as she felt her pride slipping away._

 _She had gone to bed that night in pain and she was crying profusely. As soon as she knew that Russell had fallen into a drunken stupor, she snuck away from Dudley Road clad in nothing but a thin nightgown and limped toward a poorer part of town to Puck's house. She rang the doorbell, and he answered, dressed in a tight tank top and some loose-fitting short pants. If Quinn had been in a better mental and physical state, then she would have noticed how handsome Puck looked._

 _"_ _Quinn?", he said sleepily. "What happened to you?", Puck said, noticing the cuts and bruises all over Quinn's petite body. "Daddy…he…beat me," Quinn said shakily. "Son of a bitch," Puck swore. "Why?" He couldn't believe someone could do that to their own daughter, the pride of Lima._

 _"_ _He said I'm a whore because one of the neighbors told him about Finn and me kissing," Quinn said. "What a cruel man! Does Finn know?", Puck asked. Quinn shook her head. "I didn't want him to worry about me, or not want to date me because of my messed-up family! I love him, Puck!", she said and began to cry._

 _Puck took the shivering, trembling blonde into his arms. "Shh, Q. It'll be okay. Do you want to stay tonight?" Quinn nodded and said, "This is why I came to you - because I know I can trust you, always. You're an amazing friend."_

 _Quinn fell asleep safe next to Puck that night, and the whole time, he wished that one day, Quinn Fabray would speak about him the way she spoke about Finn Hudson - but what can you do when you're in love with your best friend's girl?_

 _—_

In the present, Quinn recalled that time, but that had only been a mild occurrence. As she and Finn grew more intimate with each other, Russell beat her more. Finn still didn't know about any of it, and Santana knew just a bit, but Quinn was sure her friend could guess. To spite her father, she and Santana slammed down a couple of glasses of whiskey each until both women were somewhat tipsy.

"I love this feeling!", Quinn gasped. "I promise, after I tell them, we can drink more!" Santana laughed. "Are you sure you'll be able to walk over to Dudley Road without falling on your skinny little ass?" Quinn waved that away. "See you when I'm officially a working woman!", she called and scooped up Beth. Santana left to go to a nightclub with one of her many paramours.

Quinn walked to Dudley just fine, against Santana's teasing expectations. She rang the doorbell and one of her parents' maids answered. The Fabray family was one of the only families in Lima who had made it through the Great Depression virtually unscathed due to Russell's job as a banker, and they loved to flaunt that fact whenever they could by having servants, fine wines, and furniture imported from Europe. This gave Russell status as one of the most respected citizens of Lima. He, of course, loved that and relished in others bowing down to him. He was even considering running for mayor in the next town election.

Russell and Judy rose from the living room to greet their youngest daughter and grandchild. "Hello, Quinnie!", Judy said as she and Russell hugged Quinn. Quinn couldn't help but stiffen a little when Russell touched her, but that was just habit. Beth kicked her tiny feet and cooed, not wanting to be ignored. "Gramma!", she called. Quinn's heart melted every time Beth did something like that. "And Beth, you get prettier every day - just like your mother!", Judy said.

Quinn smiled at the compliment. She had always loved her mother, even though her mother was exactly the kind of wife she didn't want to be: submissive and dependent and having no opinions of her own. Judy, like her daughter, was a smart woman but had given up any ambitions that weren't Russell's the moment she'd said "I do". On the other hand, Quinn had taught school for a few years before marrying Finn. _Gosh,_ Quinn thought. _I'm really lucky to have Finn as my husband. He constantly supports me in whatever I do, which Daddy certainly doesn't do for Mom._

Quinn and her parents made small talk about their daily lives and the war over Judy's mashed potatoes, green beans, and roast beef, which Quinn cut up into small pieces for Beth. Well, Russell mostly talked as Quinn and Judy nodded and smiled. It was just like Quinn's childhood, where the common family saying was "children are meant to be seen and not heard."

The peace lasted until dessert, which was cherry pie. Russell said," Have you heard about those women who are taking jobs in factories? Foolish, if you ask me. A woman's place is in the home, _not_ the factory, and she would better serve her husband by being a good wife and mother. Those women are going straight to hell." "Yes dear, they are," Judy said meekly, her smile a little more strained. That was when Quinn couldn't take it anymore.

"You're wrong, Daddy," she said calmly, with growing confidence. "I am one of those women - I am taking a job with Santana as of tomorrow in a munitions factory. Beth is being cared for by the factory's free childcare system that they set up for mothers like me, who are helping their husbands win the war much faster. That's worth so much more to Finn than sitting home passively!"

Russell was shocked at Quinn's outburst. "Let's be reasonable here, Quinnie. You would be blackening your reputation - not to mention the Fabray name - by taking such a disrespectable job! Frannie would _never_ do that! I raised you better than that!"

"No, you didn't!", Quinn exclaimed. "You beat me when I didn't live up to your ridiculous expectations of what being a good Christian woman is: demure, submissive, chaste, having no opinions of her own!" "Is that true, Russell?", Judy asked angrily. Russell shrank back in his seat. This was exactly what he had always feared - two women uniting and becoming strong together.

"And," Quinn said, "I have prayed to God about what being a good Christian. And He showed me that it was about being kind and living as one of Jesus's disciples, leading others to Christ, being accepting. None of which _you_ are, Daddy!"

 _"_ Young lady, if you're going to ruin your life by taking this job, leave my house now. And don't ever think about coming back! You'll never get a penny from us!" Russell hollered. "Fine, I'll leave. Say goodbye to Beth. I'm cutting her out of your life, _Russell._ I don't want her around a monster!", Quinn said calmly, rising from her seat. "I don't want your money! I'm a strong, independent woman."

As Quinn left, Judy called after her. "Wait, Quinn! I'm really…proud of you for doing something I was always too afraid to do: standing up to your father." Quinn smiled. "Thanks, Mom! I believe you can do it one day too!" The two Fabray women hugged, with a promise from Judy that she would sort things out as best as she could with Russell.

The flying feeling that Quinn felt as she walked home with Beth could have been from the whiskey she and Santana had shared earlier, but Quinn knew it was from finally speaking up. From finally being seen and heard.

—

 _Dear Finn,_

 _How are you? I have amazing news for you! I took a job at a munitions factory with Santana to support the war effort! Daddy didn't like it when I told him, so I told him exactly what I thought of him. He hated that and threw me out of the house. I did sow the seeds of rebellion in Mom, though. She promised to speak out against him._

 _I miss you so much. Why can't the Nazis surrender already? I think of you all the time._

 _Your loving, newly independent wife,_

 _Quinn_

 _—_

 _Hello Puck,_

 _I rebelled against Daddy Fabray. And yes, he disowned me. I just started working at a factory with Santana to produce bullets for you guys, so you're welcome. The work isn't hard, just tedious, and it feels good to be doing something good for you, Finn, Mike, and Matt._

 _I recently thought of how you comforted me after Daddy beat me for the first time. I really loved seeing that sweet side of Puck. Maybe he'll make a rare appearance again soon!_

 _Lots of love,_

 _Quinn_

 _P.S. You spelled "appreciate" wrong in your most recent letter to me! Did you ever go to third grade?_

 **Hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought of Quinn and of the flashback so I can know whether to include flashbacks later on for other characters. Below are what Quinn and Beth wore if you were curious. Bye!**

Beth's dress:

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Quinn's dress:

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Quinn's hair:

watch?v=U0NTpTB3nS8


	8. Chapter 8: Resettlement

Chapter 8: Resettlement

 **A/N: Hi guys! I am back and I am so sorry that it has been so long for me to update this story. This chapter is a Rachel chapter that is a little dark, but nothing graphic, so it is up to you whether you want to read it or not. Please follow, fav, and review!**

 _December 1943 - Theresienstadt_

 _BANG! BANG!_ A harsh knocking on the door of Rachel's barracks that she shared with the other women woke her up. Knocking that hard could only mean one thing: Nazis.

No one wanted to be the one to open the door, but someone had to. Rachel scrambled out of bed and opened it, even though she was trembling in fear. Outside stood five Germans and several ghetto policeman. The guards roughly knocked her against the door as they stomped into the barracks. " _Achtung!",_ one of them, probably the leader, called. "Attention!"

"Jewesses, all of you are being resettled today and will have a half hour to gather your possessions," the leader barked. "If you do not comply, you and your loved ones will be shot on the spot."

 _Resettled._ That single word floated around in the dank air of the barracks. No one was quite sure of what "resettlement" actually meant, but they knew it had something to do with death. _No!_ Rachel thought. _I don't want to die yet!_ Her life was too good, she was too young. She finally was dating Jesse, and genuinely cared for him.

What to bring, though? Thirty minutes was not a large amount of time to gather all of your treasured possessions. Her fraying suitcase couldn't hold too much. Rachel didn't know if she should bring practical things like woolen coats and heavy dresses or impractical things like sheet music and the gold music note locket with the rhinestone star on it that Shelby had gotten her for her last birthday in Prague. In the end, she decided on the locket, sheet music, a pretty silk shawl, and one woolen dress and coat. If she died today, she wanted to be remembered with the things that meant more to her than survival. Maybe she was foolish, but the war had come when she was fourteen. She wanted to be frivolous again, just for once in her life.

As the women were marched down to the train station, Rachel and Tina clung to each other. Rachel wondered if her father, Artie, and Jesse were being deported that day as well. But at least she had Tina, her closest - and sometimes only- friend.

The Germans ushered the women into a small train car that looked as if it was fit more for cattle than humans. Rachel recoiled at the disgusting smell of human waste as she was shoved into the car, thankfully by the one tiny window. The car began to move as the Germans laughed in their faces. Rachel spotted Karofsky, who had killed Shelby, and wished she would have been able to get her revenge on him at Terezin. Now it was too late.

The women and children screamed when they realized they were locked in. "Shut up!", Rachel cried. "There is nothing you can do now! I personally would like to save my voice so I can sing again if I ever get out of here." "And who are we to listen to you, a girl of eighteen? Why, you're barely more than a child!", one young woman mocked.

Rachel seethed at that. She had gone through so much more in eighteen years than most people would in their lives. Instead of shouting, she sang a Yiddish lullaby to calm the babies, the same one she had sung when Shelby had died.

 _"_ _Durme, durme ijiko de madre_

 _Durme, durme sin ansia i dolor_

 _Durme, durme sin ansia i dolor."_

 _"_ _Sleep, sleep; mother's little boy_

 _Free from worry and from pain,_

 _Free from worry and from pain."_

The lullaby had the same soothing effect on the women as it did on the babies. Soon, everyone fell into their own thoughts…whatever those were. Rachel thought of Jesse and everything they had gone through together. He had kept her alive in the ghetto by keeping her creative mind satisfied: the two had organized operas and plays for the young children to perform. The Germans had even attended one of their plays, _Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,_ and had loved it! Now, in the cold, smelly train car, Rachel wondered if she would ever see him again.

—

The train went on for at least a day, and the Nazis didn't give their prisoners food or water. The women had to use the restroom in a shared bucket. It was disgusting: Rachel was pretty sure even cattle and pigs were treated better than this! She was fortunate enough to be next to the window so she was able to breathe some air and drink the melted December snow.

After some time, the train pulled into a station. "What does the sign say?", someone asked. Rachel was the closest to the window, so she read it. "Auschwitz," she said.

Nobody knew what that word meant.

—

 _1943 -1944 - Auschwitz, Poland_

After the five dead bodies were discarded from the cattle car, the women and children were harshly escorted from the train onto the platform and the Nazis demanded they hand over their personal possessions and any jewelry or they would be killed. Rachel was horrified. She couldn't hand over her locket, her last reminder of Shelby! But she knew even more that she didn't want to die, so she did what the Germans ordered.

The guards ushered the women into a line with a bunch of other new arrivals to the place, which looked to be some sort of camp. Up ahead, an officer flicked each woman to the right or the left. _What does that mean, what is the difference between left and right?_ Rachel thought. She grabbed Tina's sleeve so the two friends could stay together in the chaos.

Rachel's turn approached, and her heart filled with anxiety. Whatever the lines meant, it couldn't be good, since these people shot Shelby for no reason. Then it was her turn! Her heart raced a million miles per hour.

"State your name, age, occupation, and your state of health," the Nazi official asked, looking at her as if she was less than human. Rachel tried to speak but stuttered. _Pull yourself together, Rachel,"_ Rachel thought. _You need to survive this - for Jesse, and Papa, and Tina and Artie!_

"My name is Rachel Berrich," Rachel stated confidently. "I am eighteen years old, and I am a -" _I know I can't just say I'm a student. Is singer a good, useful occupation? Maybe the Nazis would like pretty voices to entertain them, like in Terezin,_ Rachel thought. "-singer," she continued. The man's eyebrows rose and he took note of her name. Was that a good thing? "My health is good," Rachel finished, feeling as if her legs couldn't carry her anymore.

The Nazi officer motioned to the right, where the other healthy women were. The elderly, sickly, and children, were on the left, which led Rachel to believe she might be safe! Tina soon followed her, and the two girls hugged each other in relief.

The Czech girls were then herded into a room for showering. The water was freezing, but it was better than it was for the women who were sent to the left, where gas came out of the shower heads instead. Rachel drank the cold water to satisfy her thirst.

The most dehumanizing thing done to the girls was when their hair was completely shaved off by other prisoners. Rachel almost cried as her beautiful, thick chocolate-brown hair was roughly clipped off, but then she remembered her promise to Shelby: not to cry in front of the Nazis, ever. Rachel didn't recognize Tina or any of the other women. They all just looked like scrawny, bald alien creatures.

And then on top of that, the girls were each tattooed with a prison number like common criminals or animals. No one would have been able to guess that Rachel had once attended operas and parties clad in velvet in the latest styles from Paris. Now she looked like…well, she didn't even know what she looked like because there were no mirrors, but she knew she didn't look good.

The Nazis threw the Theresienstadt girls at a pile of clothing. " _Wählen sie, schmutzige schlampen_!", the guards yelled. "Choose, filthy bitches!" Rachel knew better than to object to the abuse and swiftly selected a shapeless long-sleeved brown dress and a pair of red leather shoes that were falling apart. She missed the silk dresses she had worn to parties in Prague, the beautiful curls she'd worn her hair in, the warm cloaks. She wished she hadn't taken those items for granted now.

That night, in the freezing, cramped barracks, the surviving girls found out from the other prisoners that the women sent to the left died in the Nazi's gas chambers that were disguised as showers and then cremated in chimneys. _What happened to Jesse, to Papa, to_ Rachel didn't understand how the country that produced most of her favorite music could be so evil to the innocent Jews. _I'm in a nightmare,_ Rachel decided. _A nightmare that's almost been five years long._ She hoped the Americans would hurry up and win the war so she could find Jesse, return to Prague, and start her career as a professional singer and actress and live happily ever after.

—

One day at the regular morning roll call where Rachel and the others had to stand outside for hours in the freezing winter weather, something strange happened to Rachel. The overseer of her hut was summoned to confer with a Nazi officer, and then he called her prison number. "Prisoner A125899!" Rachel snapped to attention before the overseer beat her and she came over to him. "You are to accompany the officer to headquarters. "Why, sir?", Rachel asked curiously and nervously. The overseer lost his temper and slapped her across her face. "Stupid Jewess! No one questions anything here! Just do what I say!"

Rachel's face stung from pain and humiliation as she followed the Nazi officer to the camp commandant's house, a pretty white building with checkered curtains and flowers in window boxes. The camp commandant, a handsome, clean-shaven uniformed man, met her outside. "Are you a singer, _Fraulein?",_ he asked in a surprisingly kind tone. Rachel relaxed a little. "Yes, sir," she answered in German, figuring that he'd read over her documents from when she'd told the officer that her profession was a singer.

The commandant nodded. "That is good," he said. "Because the men here want some entertainment for Christmas morning."

It was Christmas already! That meant that Hanukkah had already come and gone. Rachel felt terrible for not celebrating the Jewish holiday. She had so many good memories of celebrating it at home with Shelby and Hiram and eating the fried potato pancakes and playing dreidel with her cousins…but that was all gone now, a distant, faded memory of better times.

"What would you like me to sing, sir?", Rachel asked tentatively. The commandant shrugged. "Maybe some Christmas songs. My men are awfully lonely, you know. They miss their families and homes back in Germany." _What about us?_ Rachel thought. _Don't you ever consider that we, your prisoners, might miss our homes, our families, our old lives before you decided to start killing us off one by one?_ But of course, the Nazis hadn't thought of that. They preferred to terrorize the prisoners rather than sympathize with them. Instead of expressing kind words to Rachel, they called her filthy names and gave her slaps and kicks rather than a helping hand.

Rather than expressing her thoughts, Rachel murmured her agreement with the commandant and followed him inside his home to his parlor. There were about ten Nazis gathered there, plus the commandant's family. His wife and children looked horrified at the sight of her, and she couldn't blame them - she knew she looked like a skeleton or a demon now. Rachel seethed when she heard some of the men make bawdy jokes and comments about her body and looks, but held her tongue. She wished she had her rape whistle just in case. The parlor was tastefully and richly decorated, and there were some ham, sausages, fried potatoes, sauerkraut, and apple strudel on the table. Everything looked so tasty that Rachel could have eaten all of it in two bites, even the non-kosher stuff!

The commandant grabbed her roughly and led her toward the front of the room. "Gentlemen, this is _Fraulein_ Rachel Berrich, a singer from Prague. She's going to sing for you." Rachel knew some Christmas songs from her Christian friends, so she decided to just sing one of those, called " _O Tannenbaum",_ a song about a Christmas tree that reminded her a bit of gathering with her own family. It was perfect because there was a beautifully lit Christmas tree right in the commandant's parlor!

" _O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,_

 _wie treu sind deine Blätter!_

 _Du grünst nicht nur_

 _zur Sommerzeit,_

 _Nein auch im Winter, wenn es schneit._

 _O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,_

 _wie treu sind deine Blätter!"_

 _"_ _O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree_

 _How lovely are thy branches_

 _O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree_

 _How lovely are thy branches_

 _Your boughs so green in summertime_

 _Stay bravely green in wintertime_

 _O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree_

 _How lovely are thy branches."_

Much to Rachel's surprise, the men clapped for her. "Keep going!", several of them yelled. It felt good to receive applause - Rachel had always thought that she needed applause to live! The next song she chose was " _Stille Nacht",_ a song that had always been very moving and emotional even for a Jewish girl. It was such a beautiful song, almost too beautiful for her to sing in front of monsters like the Nazis.

 _"_ _Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht_

 _Alles schläft; einsam wacht_

 _Nur das traute hochheilige Paar._

 _Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar,_

 _Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!_

 _Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!_

 _Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,_

 _Gottes Sohn, o wie lacht_

 _Lieb' aus deinem göttlichen Mund,_

 _Da uns schlägt die rettende Stund'._

 _Christ, in deiner Geburt!_

 _Christ, in deiner Geburt!"_

 _"_ _Silent night, holy night_

 _All is calm all is bright_

 _'_ _Round yon virgin Mother and Child_

 _Holy infant so tender and mild_

 _Sleep in heavenly peace_

 _Sleep in heavenly peace._

 _Silent night, holy night,_

 _Son of God, love's pure light._

 _Radiant beams from Thy holy face,_

 _With the dawn of redeeming grace,_

 _Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth_

 _Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth."_

Rachel began to tear up a little as she sang the song, and noticed that even the most hardened, cruelest officers were doing the same. They must have been homesick, too. Maybe they didn't want to do their jobs at Auschwitz, but were too scared of Hitler and his cronies to do anything about it… Rachel felt a little bad for them, but then thought of everything they put her and her friends through and shrugged any empathy she had towards the officers off.

As she finished, the officers and the commandant's family all stood up and gave her a standing ovation. "You have a beautiful voice, _Fraulein,"_ one of the officers said. "Yes, you do," the commandant's wife agreed. "Arthur, you should have this girl come sing for us again!", she said to her husband. Rachel thanked all of them, and then the officer who'd brought her there escorted her back out the door of the house.

Rachel didn't want to leave the warmth of the commandant's house and go back to Auschwitz, but she knew she had to. As she walked back to her barracks, the officer called to her. "Wait!", he yelled. Rachel scurried back to him, hoping she wasn't about to get a beating or anything. "Yes?" "You were truly amazing, you have a great voice," the man said, and wordlessly slipped her something before walking away.

Rachel looked at what the officer had given her, a piece of sausage and a couple of pieces of fried potato. _Oh my God!,_ she thought. The sausage wasn't kosher, but at that moment she didn't care. She was just happy to have any food and was astonished that a Nazi had treated her with kindness.

Maybe even the worst Nazis were human too. Just not Karofsky, who'd killed Shelby in Terezin - he was pure monster.

—

 _1944-1945 - Hamburg, Germany_

After living for two months in constant fear of being gassed or shot and in horrible conditions that made the women appreciate Terezin, Rachel, Tina, and the other girls who had survived were transported to a factory in Hamburg, Germany where they worked producing bullets and arms for the Nazi war effort. The conditions were so much better than Auschwitz and there were no gas chambers. The girls, however, couldn't venture outside because the Nazis were afraid that the German citizens would see what was being done to the "filthy" Jews. And they were still starved there and lived off of thin, watery bowls of beet soup and rye bread.

Rachel couldn't have known this, but 4,000 miles across the ocean, a young blonde mother named Quinn was also manufacturing bullets, but for a very different reason and for the opposite side of the war. Neither woman could have known that in about half a year, they would be fighting over the same young man: a handsome, kind American soldier named Finn Hudson.

 **A/N: I hope you liked it! Please follow, fav, and review! Also check out my other story,** ** _Wishing, Hoping,_** **which also is about Quick, Finchel, and Fuinn but is a much more lighthearted fic than this one. The next chapter will be alternating the POV of Finn and Puck and the POV of Quinn as the events of D-Day unfold for our characters. Until next time,**

 **-cxe128**


	9. Chapter 9 : The Beaches of Normandy

Chapter 9: The Beaches of Normandy

 **Hi, I'm back after two months! I am so sorry, I had very crucial finals to take and then I went on vacation. Here is the next chapter, the one you've been waiting for about D-Day, which was basically the turning point in WW2 when the Allies began to win. My battle scene is horrible, but I hope you enjoy anyway! This chapter features Finn and Puck's POVs. Please read and review! I wrote this chapter while listening to Quinn and Puck sing "Just Give Me a Reason" on repeat. :)**

 _June 5, 1944 - England, United Kingdom_

England. It had been fascinating at first for a boy who'd never traveled further than an hour away from his home smack-dab in the middle of small-town USA to visit the land of tea, the monarchy, and Big Ben. But Finn was tired of England - he was aching to fight, to do something - _anything -_ rather than just sitting around for another day with his comrades. He had not enlisted in the army to play endless games of poker or to listen to another one of Puck's stories of how he lured another unsuspecting European nurse into his bed. Now, Finn was beginning to question why he did choose to fight for his country. He daily had to remind himself of why - for his father - but now he wondered if it was something more than that. Whatever the reason he enlisted, Finn couldn't think of it now. Anyway, he would leave Mike to ponder existential questions like that - Mike was the resident philosopher in their unit, not him.

Currently, Finn and his friends were lounging around in the dining hall eating the baked beans and bacon the camp staff had prepared for them. Puck was describing his latest conquest, a young British nurse: "I've never seen a rack as big as hers! If only you fellas had been there to touch them!" The other guys were listening attentively, which their wives and sweethearts back home would have chewed them out for. Finn shook his head; Puck was really such an entertaining character. But Finn didn't care about a random nurse; he only cared about his golden-haired, doe-eyed Quinn.

To remind himself that he had to remain faithful to Quinn, Finn pulled out a picture of her. It was from 1937, the year the high school sweethearts had wed. Quinn looked so young there, so beautiful and innocent in her ivory lace wedding dress with her blonde hair pinned up in the style of the decade. The world hadn't hardened her yet in that picture; she looked as if nothing in the world was wrong. Finn wondered what Quinn was like now, if the war and the distance between the couple had changed her the way he was sure it had changed him. His worst fear was that he would come home from the front and she'd grow apart from him and find someone else.

Sam Evans, a kindhearted native of Dayton who'd become one of Finn's closest friends, noticed his picture of Quinn. "Whoa, Hudson, who's the dame? She's a knockout!" "That's his wife", Mike answered for Finn. "Every man in his right mind in our hometown of Lima wanted to get into her pants, but instead she got saddled with this asshole!" Mike jokingly pointed at Finn, and all of the soldiers at their table laughed, even Finn. But Puck looked a little jealous and angry…or was that just Finn's imagination? Last time he talked to Puck, Puck was still hung up on Santana Lopez, the girl who'd dumped him before the war began. Puck couldn't love Quinn in a more than friendly way…right?

Captain Schuester made his way over to the Ohio boys' table. "Attention!", he barked, and they all saluted him. "Men, we're all going to hear General Eisenhower speak. He wants to discuss plans for the invasion of Normandy." The normally calm Captain Schuester seemed a bit nervous at the prospect of going into actual battle, but still he led his men out to the lawn.

General Eisenhower, the commander of the Allied forces in Europe, was much less physically impressive than Finn had expected. He stood at average height and had clear blue eyes and light brown hair. He informed the troops of what they would be doing in the morning : invading the beaches of Normandy. "You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months," Eisenhower said. "The eyes of the world are upon you."

—

 _June 6, 1944 - Normandy, France_

Puck couldn't sleep at all that night. He kept tossing and turning in his bunk into the early hours of the morning, thinking. Thinking wasn't exactly one of Puck's strengths, but he was actually going to fight tomorrow. He couldn't tell if he was excited or scared.

In a lot of ways, he was excited to prove himself, that the loser football player who couldn't hold a steady job had finally made something of himself. Puck had been itching to fight the enemy ever since Pearl Harbor. Now, two and a half years later, he was finally getting the chance to do that. Everyone in the unit knew why Finn had joined the army: to honor his dad or some sentimental crap like that. No one ever asked Puck why he was there, maybe because unlike Finn, Puck liked to talk about girls and football and poker. Puck had enlisted in the army partly to support his family and protect them girls like Quinn and Santana from harm, just like Sam and the others had. But the other reason he had joined the army had to do with his childhood in Germany.

In a few hours, he'd be marching into battle on those French beaches with a confident swagger and his easy grin, and to the rest of the world, it would seem like he didn't have a single care in the world. The enemy soldiers would look across and see a calm, collected man instead of the frightened teenage boy they'd hoped to face. No one realized he used his smile and his reputation as a ladies' man as a mask to hide his real feelings, to hide the frightened, quiet German Jewish boy of years past that he knew would always be part of him. No one except Quinn had ever bothered to try to see the old him, the uncovered him. Maybe that's why he loved her, the girl who had been the first one to show him any kindness when his mom had moved him and his little sister, Miriam, to Lima fifteen years ago.

Puck would punch any bastard in the face who dared to call him a coward. Yes, he was (a little) scared, but he wasn't scared of pain or dying. Puck was afraid of losing his life; it was so good. He didn't want to lose his family or Finn or Mike or Quinn or girls or sex or football or alcohol or music. Hell, he didn't even want to lose Lima, which was probably the most podunk, crappiest town in the whole United States. Wait, he was starting to miss Lima? _He was really going soft._ Who was he, Hummel?

Puck's racing mind had finally settled down and he had drifted off to sleep when Captain Schuester woke them and told them it was time to go. _Shit._ He'd maybe gotten an hour of sleep, tops.

The Ohio boys ate a quick breakfast and packed their C-rations, which consisted of some kind of stew, and their D-rations, a disgusting-tasting chocolate bar. Puck hadn't thought chocolate _could_ taste gross, but then he'd sampled the D-rations, which were only supposed to be eaten in emergencies on the battlefield. Then they boarded a ship which would take them across the English Channel to the beaches of France where they'd fight. Apparently French girls were gorgeous, so maybe Puck would get to meet some if he survived the battle. _If._ God help him.

—

The first thing he noticed was the water. Puck had never felt this numb and cold in his life. He was randomly reminded of studying about the _Titanic_ in high school history classes - he had actually attended that class sometimes -, and wondered if that was what the passengers on that ship felt: nothing but the freezing, numbing water.

The next thing Puck noticed was the deafening sound of gunshots, and that sent all of his senses into overdrive. Suddenly, he and the other soldiers were just firing and firing their machine guns at the Nazi forces. He was standing next to Mike and Finn. Damn the Germans, too many of them had bullied him when he was a kid because he was Jewish for him to have any sympathy for his former countrymen.

He didn't know how long it had been when the Germans retreated. _Had the U.S. won, had the Allies really done it?_ Puck realized Finn and Mike weren't standing next to him anymore. Puck panicked and glanced at the ground. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Finn writhing on the sandy beach, clutching his leg. "You good, man?", he asked Finn. Finn nodded, painfully. "They got me in the leg. I'll get by, Puck," he said. "I'm just going to stay here for a bit."

Puck nodded and started to look for Mike. He walked a little further along the lines and then he saw him and his heart sank. Mike Chang was lying face-up, staring blankly up at the clear blue of the French sky. _No, Mike had to be all right. He couldn't be…not all right._ Puck moved over toward Mike's head and started to shake him. Mike didn't respond. Puck shook his friend harder and began to cry out. "Come on, Mike, come on, Chang, wake up, you can't be dead, wake up…"

Mike couldn't be dead. Not Mike, the kindest person in their unit. The quiet one who preferred to observe rather than to converse. The smart one, the philosopher who was always asking questions. The medical school student who could dance better than anyone he knew. The boy who always tried to please his parents. The patient football player who was engaged to the bubbly, innocent Brittany Pierce. _Oh, God._ Mike had to make it home to Brittany, or she'd just die of a broken heart.

Puck dragged the unconscious Mike over to Finn. "Hudson, can you walk?", he asked. Finn shook his head; it seemed too much of an effort for him to speak. Puck shifted Mike's limp form over so his friend was draped over his shoulder and then he helped Finn to his feet. "Put your arm around my shoulder," he barked to Finn and the taller boy followed Puck's directions so that he formed a kind of crutch for his friend. For once Puck didn't care if anyone thought he was a homosexual for hugging his best friend. He was helping him, after all.

The awkward trio staggered for what seemed like miles over the beaches until they reached an Allied field hospital. Puck was instantly greeted by the stink of decay and the sight of the gore of battle. He just barely managed to get Finn and Mike onto makeshift cots and then he couldn't stand anymore.

Puck was so exhausted that he collapsed onto the floor and slept through the next two days.

 **Dun-dun-dun, a cliffhanger! What do you think will happen to Finn and Mike? Follow and review to find out! Next chapter will feature Brittany, Quinn and Santana back in Lima as their lives are changed by the battle and as they help the war effort. Bye for now!**


	10. Chapter 10: The Aftermath

Chapter 10: The Aftermath

 _Dayton Daily News - Tuesday June 6, 1944_

ALLIES DRIVE INTO FRANCE; LOSSES BELOW EXPECTATION

SUPREME HEADQUARTERS, ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, June 6.

The allies landed in the Normandy section of northwest France early today and by evening had smashed their way inland on a broad front, making good a gigantic air and sea invasion against unexpectedly slight German opposition. Prime Minister Churchill said part of the record-shattering number of parachute and glider troops were fighting in Caen, nine miles inland, and had seized a number of important bridges in the invasion area. Four thousand ships and thousands of smaller landing craft took the thousands of American, British and Canadian seaborne forces from England to France under protection of 11,000 allied bombers and fighters who wrought gigantic havoc with the whole elaborate coastal defense system that the Nazis had spent four years building. Naval gunfire completed the job, and bridgeheads were secured quickly.

Allied losses in every branch were declared to be far less than had been counted upon in advance. The Germans said the landings took place from Cherbourg to Le Havre a front of about 100 miles, and that a strong airborne force was fighting as far inland as Rouen, 41 miles east of Le Havre.

Churchill told commons: "All this, of course, although very valuable as a first and vitally essential step, gives no indication whatever of what may be the course of the battle in the next few days and weeks, because the enemy will now probably endeavor to area. About 10,000 American casualties are expected, with approximately 6,600 American soldiers dead.

—

 _July 1944 - Lima, Ohio_

"All right, ladies! Quitting time!"

At those words, very woman in the Lima Munitions Factory immediately put down their work and began to chatter excitedly, relieved that their long shift in the dark factory was over for the day. Quinn cheerfully jumped up and grabbed her hat from the coat rack. Of course, it was July, so it was way too humid for coats, so the coat rack wasn't used as much as it was in the winter. As she put her hat on, Quinn bumped into Santana, who jokingly pretended to be angry. Brittany Pierce, a svelte blonde with big blue eyes, nudged Quinn.

"Quinn! Santana and I were wondering if you want to come have some coffee at my parents' house with us." Quinn's eyes widened in astonishment. Coffee! It was such a treat since it was strictly rationed all across America in order to further help the troops. The coffee would have to be black since milk and sugar were even more of luxuries, but it was a treat all the same. Oh, she was imagining the smell of the strong coffee and the taste of caffeine. But then Quinn remembered she had Beth.

"I think I have to pick Beth up from childcare," Quinn said. "Maybe another time, Britt?" Brittany's face fell and she stuck her lower lip out. "But Lord Tubbington really wants to see Beth! And I love her too" One thing you had to know about Brittany if you were close friends with her was that she loved cats more than anything, even more than she liked boys. Even Santana gave Quinn pleading eyes. You just couldn't say no to Brittany. She was just so kind and innocent. Besides, Quinn had used up all of her coffee stamps for the month, and she was _really_ craving coffee.

Quinn sighed. "All right. I guess I can bring Beth." Brittany smiled widely and linked arms with her two closest girl friends. The trio stopped to pick up Beth at the daycare for the children of women who worked to support the war effort. "How's Quinn's mini copy?", Santana teasingly asked Beth, and the little girl giggled. Quinn couldn't believe Beth had just turned two! It seemed like yesterday when she'd found out she was pregnant with the little girl. Already, Beth looked so much like Quinn, had the same hair and eyes and delicate, pretty features.

The Pierces' house was painted gray with blue trim and was large, larger than Quinn and Finn's was. Beth attempted to chase Lord Tubbington around even though the cat clearly wasn't interested and preferred to nap on a chintz armchair instead. Quinn contentedly sipped her black coffee. God, it tasted amazing! It was so nice to just lounge around and talk with her friends. Everyone in Lima had been on edge since they'd seen the headline in the _Dayton Daily News_ last week that announced that the Allies had broken into France after a bloody battle. Finn had to be all right, right? Quinn hadn't heard from him since before the battle.

Brittany was chattering away about her plans for her wedding to Mike Chang, which would take place after the war. "I wonder if Mike'll like Mama's dress, or if I should purchase a new one! Should I have beef served at the reception or should I serve duck? Quinn, won't you be a dear and help me decide? _You_ are the one who's gotten married before, not Santana!"

"First of all, I got married to Finn seven years ago. Things have changed since then!", Quinn said. Brittany waved that away. "Just answer me!" Quinn shook her head and smiled. "Your mama's dress is so pretty, Brittany! Isn't that the lace dress? And I think you should serve beef, not duck. Mike likes that way better than he likes to eat duck."

The doorbell sounded and Quinn jumped to get it. A white-haired man in a Western Union company uniform stood there grimly. "Are you Miss Pierce?", he asked Quinn. "No, but I'm her good friend," Quinn replied. "May I take a message for her?" "I think you should just give this to her instead," the man told her, and handed her a telegram that was dated "July 7, 1944".

"Brittany!", Quinn called. "I have something for you!" Brittany came dashing to the front hall and snatched the telegram from Quinn; "It must be from Mike!", she exclaimed. Brittany pranced back to the kitchen and excitedly informed Santana that she had mail. "You read it, !Quinn!", Brittany said. "I can't remember how the alphabet goes. It goes A-B-C-D-E-S-P, right?"

Quinn rolled her eyes at Brittany and began to read the telegram out loud.

 _Dear Miss Pierce,_

 _I regret to inform you that your fiancé, Sergeant Michael Chang, Jr., perished in battle yesterday._

The shriek Brittany let out was loud and cut through the kitchen's cozy atmosphere. It startled Quinn so much that she dropped the telegram. Quinn could hear Brittany's elderly mother begin to stir in the first-floor bedroom. From the living room, Beth began to cry out. "Mama! Mama!" How could Mike have died? Did God have no mercy for Brittany? Santana rose to comfort her friend while Quinn, who didn't know what to say, began to read the rest of the discarded telegram.

 _By the time he was brought to a field hospital, we could do nothing for him. I am truly sorry for your loss. He was a brave man._

 _We will send the body home when the war is over. As for financial matters, the army will send you some money bimonthly. I will communicate the amount you will be allotted at a later date._

 _My condolences,_

 _Captain William Schuester, US Army_

Quinn walked over to Brittany and Santana and placed her small hand on Brittany's thin shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Britt," she murmured. Brittany desperately threw her arms around Quinn's neck and Santana rested her chin on top of Brittany's head. Beth toddled over with Lord Tubbington and Quinn reached for Beth, wanting to shield her daughter from the heartache and the sorrow the three women were feeling.

And they stood there intertwined like that for some time, four women and a chubby cat. Four women, three grown up, one just beginning her life. Each girl thought that she knew pain - ranging from Beth cutting her finger to Santana growing up in a bad neighborhood to Quinn dealing with Russell's abuses to Brittany losing her fiancé - yet they all would suffer even more in the years to come. But the four - even the little child - had something in common: they were all strong. They could survive the sorrow and the pain. Even if they didn't know that yet.

—

Quinn scooped up the sleepy Beth and hurried home. She was anxious to see if she received a similar letter or telegram to the one Brittany had gotten about Mike. Finn had to be alive and well. She couldn't believe anything else! What about Puck? _Oh Almighty God._ Quinn did not know what she'd do with herself if he never made it home. Puck had always been the one she could count on and could turn to in times of distress, even more than she could do that with Santana.

The words of Brittany's telegram pounded in Quinn's head with every step she took, almost like the beat in a song. _"I regret to inform you."_ That was the most dreaded phrase for an army wife to read. Quinn hoped she'd never read it again. Beth began to squirm in Quinn's arms and Quinn re-adjusted the toddler. _"Your fiancé perished in battle."_ Finn was strong enough to survive a few Nazis, right? Quinn made a left turn onto Main Street. _"We could do nothing for him."_ Weren't the nurses and doctors at the army hospitals supposed to be experts? How could they _fail_ to save a soldier, unless God was trying to punish that soldier for some previous sin? Beth was getting heavier with each step. Soon she would be too big for Quinn to carry. _"I am truly sorry for your loss."_ Those were such empty words, a phrase that Quinn always felt _obligated_ to say. _I'm sorry_ was what people said when there was nothing else to say. People did not say "I'm sorry" if they were truly trying to console a grieving person. A right onto Peachtree Lane, and she was home.

Quinn checked the mailbox first thing. There were two letters inside the box, and with shaking hands, she opened one right there in the grass in her front yard. She made the sign of the cross, praying that it wasn't a letter from Finn's commanding officer announcing that he had died.

 _Dear Quinn,_

 _Well, I'm alive. That's the good news, I suppose. On those French beaches, the Nazis shot me pretty bad in the leg. It hurts a lot, but luckily I won't have to get it amputated. Mike wasn't so lucky. According to one of the nurses, he died a few hours after we made it to the field hospital. Poor Brittany. I remember how excited she was for their wedding. I owe my life to Puck, though. He's a real hero, like my father. And unlike me._

 _It's making me tired just writing this letter. Give my love to Beth._

 _Your Finn_

Quinn joyfully shrieked and danced around in the yard. She noticed that several of the neighbors had opened their windows to see what the ruckus was, but she only cared a tiny bit. "Finn's alive!", she exuberantly shouted. "My husband survived another day!"

Adding to her joy, Puck had made it too! And it sounded like Puck had saved Finn from almost certain death. Quinn quickly opened the next letter, hoping it was from him.

 _Quinn,_

 _I just wanted to write and to tell you that I'm okay. I knew that if I didn't, you'd get worried, and I don't want you to ever worry about anything, especially not me. Finn might not write this in his letter, but I know that he's in a great deal of pain and is struggling to fully recover. He might not be the same when we finally get home from fighting in this goddamn war._

 _Now that I've seen real battle, I no longer want to be here. Battle isn't glorious - it's bloody and horrific. At first, I thought being in the military would make me seem more manly and strong. It has (I think), but it's also shown me how a lot of people in the military are scaredy-cats, especially the Nazis._

 _At this point, I'm sure you've heard about Mike. I just hope that won't be Finn next time. I promise you, I'll protect him for you. He'll make it home, no matter what. There is no way he'll die, not on Puckzilla's watch._

 _I just wanted to let you know that I care about you so much. I miss you even more than I miss Mama and Miriam._

 _Puck_

He cared about her so much. It wasn't love, but Quinn could settle for that! Anyway, she was a married woman. He just happened to be her husband's best friend and her closest confidante. That was the extent of their relationship - it was simple, uncomplicated. That was all it would ever be.

 _—_

Coupon book in hand, Quinn was in town shopping for ingredients for a pot roast a few days after the death notices had arrived in Lima. The town had changed so much overnight. Gold stars had gone up in the homes of mothers who had lost their beloved sons in the invasion of Normandy. Quinn would see some of those women walking around dejected, decked from head to toe in black to properly mourn their sons, brothers, and sweethearts.

Quinn worked with so many of them, too. Brittany had not shown up to work since Mike's death notice had been delivered, and Quinn had dropped off a couple of casseroles to her home to try to make life easier for Brittany. Arleen O'Donnell helped Quinn melt the lead to make bullets at the Lima Munitions Factory. She was a pretty red-headed Irish girl. Arleen was fresh out of high school and already working to support her parents and her seven younger siblings. Quinn talked to Arleen a lot. Russell looked down on the Irish; he thought they were drunkards and rowdy, no-good womanizers who would ruin America. He would have disapproved of Arleen the same way he disapproved of Latinas like Santana. But Arleen was a cheerful girl who never drank a drop in her life and who spoke of books like _A Tale of Two Cities_ and _Gone With the Wind._ Just a few days ago, Arleen had found out that both her older brother and her sweetheart had perished on the sandy French beaches, fighting for the Allied cause until their last breath. Arleen had come back to work and had kept her head down, tears perpetually engraved on her cheeks. She spoke only when directly spoken to, which was such a change from the cheerful girl she'd been days before.

And Arleen and Brittany weren't the only ones. There were dozens more women who lost their loved ones that day, or worse, who discovered that they were missing. Missing meant that the unlucky boy was captured by the Germans as a prisoner-of-war and was rumored to be mistreated in German prison camps, where they were apparently mistreated, overworked, and starved. No, Quinn definitely did not envy her friends who found out that their sweethearts or brothers or cousins were missing. A missing Finn would be much more tragic than an injured Finn.

And yet she still worried so much about him. Finn was strong and brave, but she knew he'd be doubting himself after being injured. And injuries could get infected, which could lead to death. Quinn had visited church to pray for Finn so many times since the battle even on days that weren't Sundays.

A few more battles like the invasion of Normandy, and all of the young boys in Lima would be dead, including Finn and Puck. But there were rumors that the Allies were winning and that the tide of the war had turned against the Nazis. Maybe the war would be over and life could go back to normal, where there were more young men besides Kurt in Lima, where Quinn could buy more meat and sugar for her family, where there were no gold stars in people's front windows. But Quinn knew in her heart that _nothing_ would really be normal again.

 **A/N: Hi guys, I'm back after a long vacation. Hope you liked this chapter. I decided to try a new format - instead of beginnning this chapter with the letters, I decided to begin it with a real clipping from the** ** _Dayton Daily News_** **the day that D-Day occurred. I have tried to make this story as historically accurate as possible. I'm afraid I've made this story a bit dark, but I promise there will be a happy ending.**

 **In the next chapter, Finn and Rachel will meet each other! The war will end. Soon, Rachel will also meet Quinn and Puck. If I had to guess, I'm about halfway done with this story. I should have another update up in about 2 weeks. Please read, review, follow, and favorite! Reviews help me to become a better writer.**


	11. Chapter 11: The Seeds of Rebellion

Chapter 11: Seeds of Victory

 _April 1945 - Mauthausen, Austria_

The doors to the train car were flung open and Rachel was momentarily blinded by the sunlight. She and the other girls who'd come from the factory in Hamburg had been cooped up in the musty cattle car for days without food or water. The Nazis harshly ushered the fragile, starving women out of the train, beating those who didn't climb out fast enough.

 _Another camp, another cattle car._ Rachel scrambled out of the cattle car as quickly as she could, clutching Tina's bony hand. The two friends walked to the camp through the picturesque Austrian town where they'd been dropped off. The lake was a brilliant cobalt blue, the medieval town was quaint, and to top it all off, the snow-capped peaks of the Alps were in the background. "They must have taken us to the wrong place! This is far too pretty," Rachel mused out loud. A pointy-faced Slovak woman, Danica, snorted derisively. "You really think the Nazis would make a mistake? No, no, no! They're tricking you! I heard from someone that this new camp, Mauthausen, is just as bad as Auschwitz!"

All of the women gasped, terrified. _Almost as bad as Auschwitz!_ Rachel had thought she had gone through hell and had somehow miraculously come back after Auschwitz. "Surely you're exaggerating!" she told Danica. " _Nothing_ is as bad as Auschwitz!" "Yes," Tina chimed in. "I really doubt Mauthausen has the gas ovens like Auschwitz did!" Danica laughed mirthlessly. "No gas chambers, as if! What did you expect, _a concentration camp_?" Rachel wondered why that bitch had to be so downright cruel to everyone, especially to her. But maybe that was how Danica had survived this long. Maybe she figured that if she mocked and was dismissive to everyone, then she wouldn't be too soft and emotional. That maybe, just maybe, she'd survive. Not that Rachel thought that was the right way to handle the camps, but to each their own.

The camp itself was much different from the charming mountain town. It was crowded and stinking and dilapidated. The girls were directed to a barrack that was teeming with other girls with shaven heads. They gathered for supper, which was some mixture of watered-down vegetable soup served in garbage cans. Then Rachel drifted off to a fitful sleep on the moth-eaten blanket the woman in charge had given her, only to be woken up early in the morning.

It was the same old routine at every single camp Rachel had been to. The only differences between Mauthausen and the others was that food was even more scarce there, everything at Mauthausen was more chaotic, and there was no work for the girls to do to keep them occupied. Rachel and Tina spent the day milling around, scavenging for scraps of food and for people they knew.

Rachel was searching behind one of the barracks for food or jewelry that she could bribe the officers with when she heard a familiar voice call out her name. "Rachel? Rachel Berrichová?"Rachel spun around. "Jesse?" She reached out to touch him, to make sure he was real and she wasn't hallucinating since she was so thirsty.

He was real and there and he looked so different from when Rachel had last seen him at Terezin. His shaved brown hair was growing back unevenly and he had some stubble covering his normally clean-shaven face. Jesse had clearly lost some weight in the camps and his raggedy clothes hung on his frame. But his eyes, those beautiful clear blue eyes she loved so much, were still the exact same.

Rachel hugged him fiercely. "Good God, what happened to you?" she exclaimed. "Oh, I just survived a few different concentration camps. You?" Jesse said sarcastically. "What actually happened to you, Jesse?" Rachel asked.

He began to tell her how he and a lot of the other Czech men from Terezin had arrived together at Auschwitz just a little while after she had and that they'd been transferred to Mauthausen about six months ago. Hiram Berrich had been on the train with Jesse and the others. Jesse told Rachel that her father was now working as one of Mauthausen's _Sonderkommando,_ the unlucky Jews chosen to clean the bodies out of the gas chambers and transfer them to be cremated. Rachel felt bad for her papa but was relieved that he was still alive! And better yet, he was here in Mauthausen with her! Finally, things seemed to be looking up for her. Her beloved papa was alive, she and Jesse were reunited, and there were rumors that the Americans were about to defeat the Germans.

"When can I see Papa?" Rachel asked. Jesse smiled at her. "I can bring him to you tonight at dinner. You two can catch up over the delicious bowls of garbage stew," Jesse deadpanned. Rachel laughed and kissed him. But she noticed that something felt…off. The sparks that she had once felt when she kissed him were completely gone. But Rachel shook that unease off. _It's probably just because I haven't seen him in a long time,_ she told herself.

—

Just as Jesse had promised, Hiram and Rachel were able to reconnect at dinner. Tears sprung to Hiram's eyes when he saw his daughter again for the first time in nearly two years. She had grown up so much; though skinny, dirty, and choppy-haired, she had really become a beauty. Rachel held her papa close for a while, reminding her of when he'd tucked her into bed every night back in Prague. He was so much frailer and sicklier than he had been when she'd last seen him and his hair was now completely white.

"Rachel, there's something I have to tell you," Hiram suddenly said. "What is it, Papa?" Rachel wondered. "Well, it's kind of a secret." Hiram glanced around to see who was there with them. Tina and Jesse were the only ones around, and Rachel waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, you can trust Tina and Jesse, Papa! They wouldn't tell anyone." "That's right, Mr. Berrich. You can trust us!" Tina said. "Yes, I'm really good at keeping a secret," Jesse added.

Hiram nodded, satisfied with their answers. "Well, the other gas chamber workers and I are planning a little -" Hiram paused for a second to glance around, choosing his next words carefully. "- rebellion of sorts." Rachel gasped - her father, a member of the resistance? "We strike tomorrow evening. We are going to completely demolish at least one of the gas chambers. Are you in, men?"

Jesse was the first to speak. "I'm done with this bullshit of being pushed around by the Nazis like a bunch of pussies. Count me in, Pan Berrich."

His words were met with a chorus of "hear, hear's" and "long live the Czechs!" from Hiram's friends. Tina quickly nodded. "That makes ten of us total. Rachel?", Hiram said. Her father and their friends looked at her desperately. But Rachel was so goddamn afraid of _stepping_ on the wrong foot in the presence of the Nazis, let alone trying to upstage them. This plan was utter insanity- the odds of their survival were one to a thousand! But she saw how happy it would make Hiram, and - _besides_ \- there had been a voice in the back of her mind for the past three years urging her to seek vengeance on that piece of scum, Karofsky, and his like.

Rachel, ever the actress, took a breath and outstretched her hands toward the sky. "Anything for you, Papa." "That's my Rachel," Hiram said proudly, ruffling her choppy brown locks.

And in that instant, come what may, Rachel knew this crazy plan was worth it. She was going to be able to make her father - and Shelby - proud.

—

As planned, Rachel met Hiram, Jesse, and the other revolutionaries early one morning behind one of the barracks. Tina was resting - she had been infected with typhoid fever. Because there was talk that the Germans were losing the war, there was more chaos than normal so no SS officers were on guard.

Hiram, the de facto leader, went over the plan: the men would go to their jobs as normal - armed with weapons they had procured via Mauthausen's black market - while Tina and Rachel would stand guard and distract the SS if necessary.

"Jesse!" Rachel tapped his shoulder once Hiram had finished. Jesse turned around. "Yes?" "I…" Rachel took a deep breath. What she was about to say had been on her conscience for a long time, and she needed to get it out in case Jesse was about to die. She couldn't be responsible for leading him on…"I think it's better if we go our own way."

Jesse looked at her with a sad smile. "Oh, Rachel…" "I'm sorry," Rachel murmured, stricken with guilt. "No, Rachel. You spared me from having to tell you the same thing." Rachel embraced him and laughed nervously. "We're too similar to work," she pointed out. Jesse kissed her cheek. "I hope I'll see you after this. Take care, Rachel."

And with that, he ventured into almost certain death.

—

Rachel anxiously paced outside the front of the gas chambers with her fingers crossed for good luck. _My God, what have I gotten myself into?_ A few Nazis glanced in her direction, wondering what she was doing there. One guard even stopped and cruelly joked that if she didn't leave, he'd "toss her in the gas chambers to join her people." Then he and his buddy walked away, laughing hysterically.

Then Rachel saw an explosion and knew that her father's plan had worked. She uncrossed her fingers and hopped a little in relief.

Her joy lasted until suppertime, when she discovered the bodies of her father, Jesse, and their friends hanging from Mauthausen's gallows. Apparently, her father had been singled out as the ringleader and had been tortured, but he hadn't given any information up. _He'd saved her. And now she was an orphan._

Rachel felt completely sick. _Why shouldn't I be on the gallows with them?_ It was what she deserved - she had schemed and plotted with Jesse and her father and now she was getting off scot-free. She was now completely alone in the world - parentless, friendless. She noticed the electric wire of the camp and considered hurling herself into it. Then, all of her pain would be over. And she could rejoin her parents.

Rachel took the first step toward the wire. A few more and she'd finally, _finally_ be able to sleep.

 **A/N: I left you on a cliffhanger (laughs evilly)! Note: there was an actual disablement of the gas chambers at Mauthausen. However, I took some creative liberties with this to better fit the plot of my story so it is not historically accurate. Finn and Rachel will actually meet in the next chapter - for real. I have already started writing it.**

 **I'm sorry - it has been over four months since my last update. My main excuse for that is that I received a very cruel review from a guest on this site that said that my writing and my ideas are trash and that I shouldn't bother writing or posting stories on this site. It made me develop severe writer's block and I felt very sad. Writing is my passion - and it hurt for someone to criticize what I love to do. What do you think? Do you guys like my writing style? Are my ideas good enough? Let me know in the reviews.**


	12. Chapter 12: Free at Last

Chapter 12: Free at Last

 **A/N: Here it is - the long-awaited Finchel meeting! Quick fans - your chapter is coming soon! Just a note: the things italicized in this chapter are either Finn's thoughts or German dialogue. The English translation of the German is provided in the sentences around it.**

 _April 1945 - Mauthausen, Austria_

Rachel decided not to end her life on the electric fence after all.

Something told her to turn back at the last minute, to stop running toward death. But it wasn't because she wanted to keep living. She wanted nothing more than to die - but truth be told, she was afraid. Afraid of the pain that would come with the crackling wires or a bullet from a Nazi on the lookout for prisoners trying to escape. And with each night that she miraculously managed to wake up from, Rachel could feel her body weakening as the food supplies dwindled further and further. She knew it would only be a matter of time before she would be affected with the lethal typhoid fever.

Rachel wondered whether this vivid six-year long nightmare would end in freedom by the Allies or freedom via death.

—

 _May 1945 - Mauthausen, Austria_

"Where are we going, Captain Schuester?" Finn saluted his commanding officer. The unit was supposed to trek through the Third Reich in search of the enemy, but instead they were headed in the complete opposite direction.

"I heard we're freeing some prisoners-of-war, Finn," Schuester replied. In the last months, the former schoolteacher had become almost like Finn's father. The two had bonded over their love of music and Finn had found in the captain a close confidante and kind, open-minded role model. He would miss him after the war ended.

Puck jabbed Finn's shoulder. "I wonder if any of the prisoners are our boys," he muttered. Finn thought of all of his friends who were reported "missing" after a battle - a fate apparently worse than death. "God, I hope not," Finn replied. "The Germans are supposed to be pretty harsh."

"Hold it right there," Puck teasingly protested. "I'm German!" "Eh, you're not that bad for a German," Finn joked. Puck grew serious suddenly. "What you said is partly right though, Hudson. The Germans I knew treated me like horse shit — all because of my religion."

Finn didn't have a chance to think too much about this because suddenly, his Ohio unit followed all of the other American units through some kind of a barbed fence. _Like a cattle fence,_ Finn thought. He had spent enough time helping out his Aunt Dorothy on her farm that he knew what that looked like. Maybe the prisoners-of-war had to tend cattle to sustain the Naiver army…

But when the unit entered the camp, what they saw was anything but cattle.

"My god," Captain Schuester muttered.

There were living corpses scattered everywhere, mostly lying around the ground, too listless to even register the Americans' arrival. Some looked feverish and all looked like the bony skeletons of children. There was garbage everywhere, and the scent was rancid — like vegetables mixed with death.

But what shocked Finn the most was that among the emaciated faces of the Nazis' captives, there were an abundance of women and teenagers. This made him realize that these people were not prisoners of war — no, they were clearly here for another reason.

The Nazis seemed to be mostly gone, having fled for their lives. Clearly they hadn't wanted their dirty little secret to leak and land them in jail for life. _The bastards. They deserved to hang for this._

"Men…I don't know what to say," Captain Schuester said shakily, running his hands through his curly hair. "Uh, just try to help some of these people. Figure out why they're here." Finn saluted the captain and nodded at Puck. "Come with me. I don't think I can stomach this alone, Puck." "You know I give the orders to you now, Finn. I was the one promoted to First Sergeant." Finn still felt lucky that Puck had saved his life and he knew that Puck deserved that promotion, but still…a part of him felt just a twinge jealous of his friend's achievements. All Finn had wanted to do was to make his father proud… "However…I hate to admit this…but I don't think I could do it alone either," Puck sighed.

Finn cautiously approached a prisoner, unsure of what to say. "Hello there, what is your name?" he asked. But the bald inmate's face was blank and he looked confused. "Finn, you fool, we're in the middle of Central Europe! Obviously this man isn't going to speak English!"

"How was I supposed to know that? I don't speak any other languages!" Finn protested defensively. But then he realized what an idiot he was, talking to a man in Austria in English and expecting him to understand. "Why don't you do the talking then, Puckerman?" "Gladly," Puck replied. He turned toward the man.

 _"_ _Hallo Herr. Wie heißen Sie?_ " he asked in perfectly accented German. "Hello sir. What is your name?" The man looked frightened, disbelieving them and thinking that they were Nazis trying to trick him for their own amusement. "Tell him that we're Americans. We come in peace," Finn whispered urgently. _"Wir sind Amerikaner. Mach dir keine Sorgen, wir kommen in Frieden,"_ Puck said kindly.

A tiny flicker of hope came into the prisoner's eyes. _"Amerikaner? Mein Gott! Mein Name ist Thomas.",_ he said in a hoarse voice. "Thomas…do you know anyone who speaks English here?", Puck asked politely in German. _"Thomas ... kennst du jemanden der hier englisch spricht?"_

Thomas nodded, looking more excited. _"Ja. Rachel Berrich, eine verrückte Sängerin."_ "What did he say?" Finn asked, feeling utterly useless and confused next to his multilingual friend. "It's all Greek to me!" "He said a crazy singer named Rachel speaks English," Puck translated.

Color him stunned. "Geez, Puck, how many languages do you speak?" "Just three," Puck said. "English, German, and Yiddish, a European Jewish language." "Incredible," Finn muttered. "Ask him where we can find this Rachel."

 _"_ _Wo können wir Rachel finden?"_ Thomas answered Puck's question by pointing toward a hut close by with a few women lying in a cluster on the ground for warmth. Puck and Finn headed in that direction, eager to find Rachel. " _Warten! Haben Sie etwas zu Essen?"_ Thomas called after them. "He's wondering if we have any food," Puck translated. "Here, I'll give him my C-rations, Finn." Finn watched as his friend handed his rations to the starving inmate. "From this day on, you are a free man, Thomas," Puck stated firmly in German. "Don't ever forget that."

Finn thought he saw tears form in Thomas's eyes as Puck grasped his bony hand.

—

"I wonder why this Rachel is so insane," Finn mused. "Maybe she's an elderly psychic or something." "Or maybe she went insane because of everything she went through here, Finn," Puck replied. "I want to talk to her because I want to speak with someone who understands both of us perfectly — that way we can find out what the hell women are doing at a prisoner-of-war camp."

The two Americans reached the cluster of women. "I'll take the lead for now," Puck muttered to Finn. Puck waved his arms to get the attention of the fatigued women. _"Guten Morgen die Damen. Gibt es hier jemanden mit dem Namen Rachel?" "_ Good morning, ladies. Is there someone here by the name of Rachel?"

One woman stepped up, weakly but with an air of confidence. " _Das würde ich sein."_ "That would be me." Puck switched to English. "Hello Rachel. I am First Sergeant Noah Puckerman of the United States Army and this is Corporal Finn Hudson." Rachel crossed her thin arms over her chest and swept an appraising glance over Finn. _God, the girl was pretentious for a woman who had been imprisoned just a few hours ago._ I understand you speak English. We need a translator to help us." "What will you give me for my services?" Rachel demanded, her perfect English heavily accented with some brand of Eastern-European accent.

Finn looked down at Rachel and noticed that she couldn't have been much more than twenty years old. She was quite pretty, an exotic beauty with her tanned skin, her deep-set chocolate brown eyes, and her rich dark hair that was chin-length. Finn realized that all of the women here had their heads shaved, and he wondered why. Everything at this camp, Mauthausen, was so strange.

"I'll give you some food," Finn offered before he could stop himself. "And some warm clothes. You must be starving, Rachel — not to mention freezing." Rachel sounded pleasantly surprised. "Why yes, yes I am. Thank you for paying attention to my needs, Corporal Hudson. What a gentleman you are, unlike your friend." She directed a cold stare at Puck, and the seasoned sergeant backed away a bit, clearly unnerved by the confident young woman in front of him. Finn felt himself start to blush at her compliments, and he shook that kind of thought away. _But she'd called him a gentleman…_

Finn and Puck led Rachel to a parlor one of the Nazi's old homes, which the American military leadership had taken over as their headquarters. "Sit here," Puck ordered. "I need to go get Captain Schuester." "Bring her some soup, Puck," Finn called as Puck left the room.

"It's all right, Rachel," Finn soothed. "Puck can be a little gruff at times, but he's a good person. There's no need to be nervous." "I just feel like the Nazis are going to…oh, never mind." Rachel's normally confident voice became weak and trailed off. Finn raised his eyebrows. "The Nazis are going to _what?_ " "I said 'never mind!'" Rachel asserted firmly. Her voice softened again. "Thank you for your kindness, Corporal Hudson. I just can't believe we're truly free, that's all."

Finn felt his insides warming up again even in the chilly house. "Oh, never mind official titles. Call me Finn," he told her. There was something enigmatic about Rachel made him feel as if he'd known her his entire life rather than an hour. Rachel gave a slight smile. _She had such a pretty smile. Such white, even teeth._ "All right, I'll call you Finn," she decided.

Puck returned with Captain Schuester, who introduced himself to Rachel and began to take notes on their "interrogation" of her in case it turned out to be useful for the Allied cause. She was from a wealthy Czechoslovakian family that lived in a beautiful flat in Prague, apparently, and was a trained singer. She'd lost her home and had been transferred from Prague by train to another death camp, Auschwitz —one that Finn had heard of but that he didn't know much about — to a factory in Germany to this place. She was starved on the rough train car journey and was fed next to nothing at the Nazi prison camps. Apparently, the Nazis killed the people in gas ovens at their death camps. _But why?_ Her parents were dead, she had no siblings to speak of, and her only remaining friend was deathly ill with typhoid fever. Suddenly Finn understood why Rachel was so sensitive. By the age of twenty, she had experienced more than most people would ever have to undergo in their entire lives.

Captain Schuester finally asked the question that Finn was itching to ask. "Why, Rachel? Why did they do this to you if you are innocent as you claim?"

"Because I'm Jewish," Rachel sighed, and the three soldiers let out a collective gasp. "It's the reason we're all here — we didn't fit the Nazi standards for a perfect German society."

—

 _Dear Quinn,_

 _You'll never guess what happened today, so I'll just tell you._

 _We liberated a Nazi prison camp today, Quinn. They were murdering and torturing people based off of their Jewish faith. My God, the stinking mess might have been worse than D-day._

 _They murdered innocents: men, women, and children. I knew they were jackasses, but I didn't know the Nazis were that bad. Captain Schuester said he'd heard about something like that at a camp like this one in Poland, but he never actually thought it would be true._

 _We're going to be staying here in Austria for the next few days? Weeks? We will be restoring order to the camp and helping the freed prisoners._

 _Quinn — I hope to be home with you soon. The war is almost over, and I'm ready to finally meet my daughter._

 _Love,_

 _Your shocked husband, Finn_

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review, follow, or favorite if interested! Let me know what you thought!**

 **Chapter 13: Finn and Rachel grow closer as the war ends. Finn feels obligated to return to Lima and to his family...how will that impact their relationship?**


	13. Chapter 13

Hi guys - I'm back!

Thanks for all of the lovely reviews! I never expected this story to be a success at all. I can't believe it's been a year and a quarter since I started _We Fought for this Land_.

You're probably wondering where the next update is. It's coming, I promise. But first, I want to update the existing 12 chapters of the story as well as _Wishing, Hoping_. I don't know if any of you have noticed, but my writing style has really changed from the first chapter to the most recent one. I credit that to one of my teachers this year - I am now a much more clear, more mature writer. I cringe when I read the first chapters of the story...Over the next few weeks, I will be doing that. I also envisioned a different plot arc than the one I had originally planned.

Thanks for sticking with my story! If anyone has writing advice or comments in general, please review or PM me.

-cxe128


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